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“I ran straight on, regardless of bombs dropping all around me.” 

(Page 124) 



BILLY WHISKERS 
IN FRANCE 


BY 

FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY 

H 

AUTHOR OF “BILLY WHISKERS,” “BILLY WHISKERS* KIDS,” “BILLY 
WHISKERS IN THE SOUTH,” “BILLY WHISKERS IN CAMP,” 
“ZIP, THE ADVENTURES OF A FRISKY FOX TERRIER,” ETC. 



Illustrated By FLORENCE WHITE WILLIAMS 


THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

CHICAGO AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK 

AA . 




Copyright 1919, 
by 

The Saalfield Publishing Co. 



©CI.A525S21 


JUli fa fyry 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

I Billy Whiskers Grows Homesick . 

II Billy Unexpectedly Meets a Friend . . 

III An Inopportune Sneeze 

IV The General Recaptures Billy 
V Billy Nearly Kills the Cook . 

VI Billy Relates Some of His Adventures . 
VII Button Frightens Two Nurses 
VIII Billy Makes Plans to Leave France . . 
IX Button Discovers Spies in the Haymow . 
X Button Makes the Farmer Fighting Mad 
XI The Chums on a Canal Boat .... 
XII Button has a Fight with a Wharf Rat . 

XIII A Dog Cemetery in Paris 

XIV What the Chums Did in Paris .... 

XV Blown Up by a Submarine 


s 


PACE 

7 

15 

23 

35 

47 

59 

75 

83 

95 

109 

123 

i35 

H3 

i53 

165 


( 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


“I ran straight on, regardless of bombs dropping all 


around me” Frontispiece 

I-' - PAGE 

Every man of them jumped as if shot 30 

Billy gave one long, loud baa that resounded down the big, bare 
room 66 


Away went Billy, jerking the cook around trees, over stumps and 
beehives 92 

One thing Billy butted was a basket full of clothes . . . .118 

The first thing Billy knew, he was rolling over something soft 

that squealed like a stuck pig and that kicked like a calf . 148 


Billy Whiskers in France 

CHAPTER I 

BILLY WHISKERS GROWS HOMESICK 

S Billy Whiskers lay in an American camp somewhere 
over in France, he became very restless and soon had the 
blues from thinking of his dear Nannie so far away — 
away over in America, with that deep, deep, wide, blue 
ocean between them, infested not only with huge sea monsters belong- 
ing to the finny tribe, but also with death-dealing, quickly moving 
submarines and torpedo boats belonging to the German Kaiser. 

“I want dreadfully to go home ! Still I hate to risk my life on any 
ship that sails the seas these days, for it may be blown sky high at 
any moment, or sunk to the nethermost depths of the ocean. There 
is no way to walk around, and I don’t suppose I could get any one to 
let me go with them in an airship. So here I must remain, or trust 
my life to some troop ship returning to America for more soldiers. 

7 



Billy Whiskers in France 

I just believe I will do it! I have lost all interest in the War over 
here since my master was wounded and was invalided home. Home ! 
The very word makes me so homesick I can’t see for tears. Well, 
I’ll just fix this homesickness, so I will! I start for there this very 
minute. It is a good dark night and I think I can slip out of camp 
easily as they have not been watching me so closely since my master 
was sent away.” 

Suiting the action to the words, Billy jumped up, shook himself, 
took a long breath and said to himself, “Here’s luck to you, old 
fellow, on your long, long, perilous journey! And may you reach 
the other side and once more see your loving little wife Nannie and 
all your children and grandchildren!” 

Then he gave a flick of his tail and started on a brisk run for the 
least guarded entrance to the camp, to try to sneak through. 

“My, but it is lonesome traveling by myself!” he thought. “I do 
wish Stubby and Button were here to accompany me on this jour- 
ney.” 

Billy was so busy thinking of his old friends Stubby, the little yel- 
low dog with a stubby tail, and Button, the big black cat with blazing 
eyes like buttons, that he reached the entrance to the camp before he 
knew it, and he managed to slip out without being stopped, for there 
was a jam at the gate caused by many big ambulances going out and 
army trucks coming in. 


8 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Humph!” said Billy to himself. “If I get over all my difficulties 
as easily as I got through that gate and past the guards, my journey 
will be a smooth and pleasant one.” 

He had been traveling some time when he heard some one say, 
“Hi, there, Billy Whiskers! What are you doing outside of camp? 
Looks to me as if you were trying to run away.” This from a driver 
of an ambulance who knew Billy was not to be allowed to escape from 
the camp. “Come here and I will give you a nice red apple.” 

“See anything green in my eye?” winked back Billy. “I know you! 
You would give me an apple with one hand and slip a rope around 
my neck with the other. Anyway, where’s your apple? I don’t see 
any!” 

“Here, Billy! Stop, I tell you, and come here! If you don’t like 
apples, here is a handful of salt,” and the soldier held his hand out 
as if he had it full of salt. 

But Billy was too keen for him. He had seen him close his hand 
over nothing before offering it to him. So he kept right on walking 
as if he had not heard the soldier. 

“Say, Bill, this is no joke! It is the General’s orders that you are 
not to escape, but to be made to stay in camp until we go home. You 
are too valuable a goat to allow the Germans to make you up into 
chops and roasts. Besides, when we get home we want to show the 
goat that stole Von Luxemburg’s maps and plans from under his very 

9 


Billy Whiskers in France 

nose, and also butted or hooked all his staff into a heap in the corner 
of his own little room. If you won’t come back for apples or salt or 
coaxing, very well! I’ll have to lasso you, or shoot you in one of 

your legs so you cannot run 
away,” and the soldier 
turned his back to look for a 
rope in the ambulance, as 
he preferred to lasso Billy 
rather than shoot him. He 
was an expert with the 
lasso, as he had come from 
a ranch away out in Mon- 
tana to join the army, and 
was considered the best 
hand with the rope in all 
Montana. 

“Huh!’ 1 g*unted Billy. 
“I must have run into 
Lasso Jake. If this is so, I 
better be getting a move on me and pushing my leg.” 

As luck would have it, right before Billy was a creek, with a tem- 
porary bridge across it. Down the bank beside the bridge plunged 
Billy, for he knew the bank was so high that the cowboy soldier could 



io 


Billy Whiskers in France 

not throw his lasso so as to catch him. Instead of trying to climb out 
the other side of the creek, Billy kept on in the middle of the swift- 
flowing stream, swimming against the current, though he could not 
make much progress against it. Presently he heard voices and turn- 
ing his head he saw two soldiers standing on the bridge and one was 
swinging a lasso over his head. Billy waited to see no more, but 
ducked. And just as his head disappeared under the water, he 
heard the splash of the rope as it hit the surface of the water just 
where his head had been. 

“Good thing I ducked ! If I hadn’t, they would now be pulling me 
to shore with a lasso around my neck. Gee, but that was a close call, 
and that cowboy soldier is some lasso thrower! I never saw his 
equal, even in a circus. I think he better get a flying machine and 
fly over the German line and watch his chance to rope the Kaiser or 
the Crown Prince, some of the Generals and other high monkey- 
monks.” And Billy laughed to himself at the spectacle of the Kaiser 
being made to walk into an American camp with a lasso around his 
neck. Billy forgot he could not open his mouth to laugh under 
water, and he began to choke so he had to stop swimming under water 
and come to the surface. 

Just as he did so, his eye caught sight of a soldier standing on the 
bank of the stream with a lasso hanging from his hand ready to throw 
the moment Billy’s head appeared above the surface of the water. 


n 


Billy Whiskers in France 

He was about to dive again when he heard a cry for help from the 
bridge. The soldier turned and ran to rescue a man who had fallen 
into the water, calling as he went down, “Save me ! I can't swim !” 

Billy crawled out of the stream and stood watching the soldier with 
the lasso trying to save his comrade. He was having a hard time for 
as the man went down he struck his head on a stone, which stunned 
him, and now he was being carried downstream by the swift current 
and knocked against the bowlders over which the water frothed. 
Try as he would, the cowboy soldier was put to it to catch up to him 
as the swift current bore his chum’s body ever and still ever ahead 
of him. But at last his comrade’s body caught between two rocks and 
was held there until the cowboy soldier overtook it. The cold water 
had revived the man, so that by the time his soldier chum reached 
him he was coming to his senses. Billy only waited to see that the 
man was alive and then he left them sitting in midstream, each on a 
big rock that raised its head above the water. He thought it wise 
to cut sticks for safety and ran into a thick woods he saw, which 
would serve to hide him from the soldiers should they cross the bridge 
and try to follow him. This, however, they did not do, knowing it 
would be useless to try to catch Billy when he had such a start. 

As soon as he could, Billy found his way out of the woods to the 
road he had left. After following it for some time he found it led 
out to the main highway to Paris. This road Billy knew he must 


12 


Billy Whiskers in France 

follow or he could never find his way back to the seacoast. Once in 
Paris, he knew he must pass through it and then keep straight on in 
a westerly direction until he came to the English Channel. Once 
there, he would follow the coast until he came to a port from which 
boats were sailing for America. Then he would watch his chance 
to steal aboard and sail for home. Billy was very good at directions 
and from the moment he had landed in France he had taken special 
pains to keep the points of the compass straight in his head, so that 
if he ever wanted to return home alone he would find his way. Now 
it proved what a wise old goat he was, for all he had to do was to 
travel by the sun and North Star in a northeasterly direction until he 
came to Paris and from there in a westerly until he reached the 
English Channel, from one of whose ports he had disembarked when 
he came to France. But it was discouraging to think how very far it 
was and what privations and hardships he would have to endure and 
overcome before he reached his destination. But Billy Whiskers 
was a regular old soldier by this time and well used to hardships and 
hard knocks of all kinds. So he only heaved a long sigh and then 
ran all the faster, knowing that every step he took brought him just 
that much nearer home and Nannie. 

“If I tried to count the steps I shall have to take before reaching 
home, it would be like counting the sands of the sea. I shan’t try, 
but just push on and I know I shall get there some day.” 


13 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Bow-wow-wow!” barked a big Dane in his deep voice. 

“Bow! Wow! Wow!” came the short, sharp, snappy barks from 
a short-legged Scotch terrier as they bounded out of a gate beside 
the road, ready to pounce on Billy. They were followed by poodles, 
collies, St. Bernards, and all manner of dogs, both great and small. 



Billy thought he had never seen so many dogs of different breeds in 
one place in all his life. You see he had run into a dog hospital, and 
these were the convalescent dogs which were allowed to play together 
in the yard. 

Not one of these dogs tried to bite Billy, and after they had given 
up trying to frighten him by barking in their fiercest way as if about 
to eat him alive, they quieted down and became as docile as lambs. 

H 



CHAPTER II 


BILLY UNEXPECTEDLY MEETS A FRIEND 

OOD-MORNING, friends!” baaed Billy. “Would 
you allow a tired traveler to rest under the shade of your 
trees, and give him a drink of water? For I am a 
stranger in a strange land, and have traveled far. I am 
an American.” 

“You an American?” exclaimed the dogs in chorus. 

“Now we surely are glad to meet you!” barked the big Dane. 
“For if there is any place on earth we dogs have longed to see, it is 
America. Probably you will tell us about it?” 

“Yes,” said another dog. “We have heard that every dog has 
his day over there and many of them two or three.” 

“We have also heard,” added a French poodle, “that all dogs are 
free over there, and can go and come as they like, and that they are 
never tied up, shut in a house or muzzled. Is that true?” 

“Yes and no,” replied Billy. “It depends on where you live and 
who your master or mistress is.” 

“Why, we have heard,” piped up a little black and tan, “that any 
dog can choose his own master or mistress, and that all he has to 

15 



Billy Whiskers in France 



pleased with the way they treat him 
is to walk off and follow the first 
person he sees that he thinks he 
would like to live with, and that they 
will take him home with them and 
feed and house him.” 

“Again you are partly right and 
partly wrong,” replied Billy. “It 
depends on whom you run away 
from and whom you pick out to be 
your new master or mistress. You 
might happen to belong to some one 
who was very fond of you, though 
you might not be fond of them. In 
that case if you ran away they would 
advertise and try to get you back, 
but if you had proved yourself to be 
a good-for-nothing dog, they would 
let you go and say ‘Good riddance 
to bad rubbish!’ and never bother 
their heads about you. 

“Then again you might show poor judgment in selecting a new 

16 


Billy Whiskers in France 

master and choose one who did not care for dogs, and when he found 
you following him he might throw sticks and stones at you. So you 
see you can’t always be sure of changing masters successfully.” 

“Did you just come from America?” asked a fourth. 

“Oh, no ! I have been over here nearly a year now, with the army.” 

“You don’t mean to tell us that you have really and truly been with 
the army?” 

“Surely not at the front!” added another in amazement. 

“But I have!” Billy assured them. “I have crossed No-Man’s- 
Land many times, and been shot at and blown up once besides. See 
where a piece of my tail is gone? Well, I lost it at Verdun. A bomb 
exploded and threw me up in the air and also blew off part of my tail. 
I consider myself very lucky that it decided to blow a piece off that 
end of my body instead of the other, for if it had been my head in 
place of my tail, it would have killed me. I can’t get along without 
a head, but I can without a tail.” 

“Haw! Haw! Haw!” laughed the dogs. 

“You surely are a funny fellow!” said one. “Come on in and we 
will find something for you to eat and drink and also a place to rest. 
Then after you have rested, I hope you will tell us more of your 
experiences at the front. If you will do that, we will tell you our 
experiences in Paris before we left there, and we will introduce you 
to some of our celebrated police and Red Cross dogs who have been 

17 


Billy Whiskers in France 

in the war and been wounded or gassed. They will relate some 
thrilling adventures and hairbreadth escapes. To-night will be a 
good time, after our keepers have gone to bed. Then we can sneak 
out under the trees in the little patch of woods behind the big stables 
and while you brave soldiers swap tales of the war we who have 
never been near the war can listen. 

There goes one of our heroes now. See that dog crossing the 
lawn, wearing a Red Cross bandage on his chest?” 

Billy turned and took one long look at the dog. Then without a 
word of warning he put down his head and bounded toward him, 
taking ten or twelve feet at a single bound. 

The dogs stood spellbound. What was the big goat going to do? 
Butt their wounded hero? If so, why should he wish to butt a per- 
fectly harmless dog he had never seen before? But had he never 
seen him before? Perhaps they had met and fought on the battle- 
field and were enemies. If so, they must all run and protect their 
hero from the long horns of the strange goat. 

But when the dogs arrived within speaking distance they were 
overjoyed to hear the goat baa out, “Hello, old chum! How in all 
that is wonderful did you get here? I heard you were dead ; that you 
had been seen with a Red Cross ambulance which had first been 
gassed and then blown up by a shell. One of your friends said he 
saw you with his own eyes sitting in the back of the ambulance when 

18 


Billy Whiskers in France 


the shell struck it, and the next thing he saw was the whole ambulance 
flying up in the air and then coming down in small pieces.” 

u What he saw all happened. I was there and sitting in the back 
of the ambulance with my gas 
mask on, for the signal had been 
given for all to put on their 
masks, and one of the doctors 
with the ambulance corps had 
just stopped and strapped mine 
in place when a shell hit us, and 
I found myself going up in the 
air at the rate of about a hun- 
dred miles a minute. When I 
came down, my mask had been 
blown off my face. How it 
ever was done without killing 
me or blowing my head off I don’t know, 
but it was. I thought I was all right until 
I began to see red, and I had a queer sensation in my head as if 
my brain were going round and round like a cat runs after its ^ 
tail. Then I could not get my breath and I fell over, giving myself 
up for dead. But if you will believe it, the next thing I knew I 
opened my eyes and found myself in a long room with two rows of 

19 



Billy Whiskers in France 

beds in it, all just like baby cribs. And bending over me was a sweet- 
faced lady nurse. I found myself all bound up in splints and cotton 
batting. You see an interne to another Red Cross ambulance who 
had come to look for the wounded, if any had possibly survived the 
blow-up, had found me senseless on the ground. So he picked me up 
and brought me here as this hospital for dogs was on the way to the 
hospital where he was stationed. This is now my fourth week here, 
and I want to tell you that only angels in human form live here. 
They are so good to one! They have nursed me back to life. I was 
only slightly gassed and so my lungs are all healed and I am also over 
my shell shock. I shall likely go back to the front in another 
week.” 

“You don’t mean that you are going back to the fighting line, do 
you?” asked a long white-haired collie that had fallen very much in 
love with the brave Red Cross dog. “Oh, why do you risk your life 
again?” 

“Why do I risk my life?” in astonishment. “To try to save some 
brave soldier, whose life is a thousand times more valuable than 
any dog’s ever will be. Yes, I am going back and back and back 
as long as I have eyes, teeth or claws to go back with, until this cruel 
war is over.” 

“Bully for you!” exclaimed Billy. “You make me feel like a 
slacker, getting homesick and running away from the army.” 


20 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Well, it is not too late yet to go back. I propose that you stay here 
and rest until next week and then go back with me.” 

“I’ll do it!” said Billy, and they rubbed noses together to seal the 
bargain. “I hear a bugle. What is that call for?” 

“Oh, that is our supper call,” said the Red Cross dog. “When 
they blow the bugle all the dogs that are running loose are supposed 
to go to the back kitchen door. There are long troughs there in 
which they put our suppers. Come ahead with us, and we will give 
you some food. There will be plenty for all of us and for you too, for 
they serve very bountifully here,” and all the dogs and Billy too 
moved off in the direction of the kitchen. 


21 



CHAPTER III 


AN INOPPORTUNE SNEEZE 

ELL, well, well! Whom have we with us?” exclaimed 
the cook at the dog hospital as he stood in the kitchen 
door in apron and cap ready to throw some more food in 
the dogs’ trough. “Bless my soul, I believe it is Billy 

Whiskers!” 

Billy hearing his name spoken looked up, only to find himself 
gazing into the eyes of the cook who had once served the old General 
who had issued the strict orders for Billy not to be allowed to leave 
camp. 

“Billy, you old rascal, come here and let me pull your beard for 
luck and old times’ sake! I will bet my whole month’s wages that 
you have run away from camp.” 

All the time the cook was talking, he was walking toward Billy, 
wishing to get near enough to discover if the goat really wore around 
his neck a collar from which hung a medal engraved with his name. 

“Here, Billy, is a nice big carrot for you. Don’t jerk back. I am 
not going to hurt you. I am only going to pat your head. Don’t you 

23 



Billy Whiskers in France 

remember the good old times in camp when I used to give you nice 
juicy apples and crisp lettuce heads?” 

By this time the cook was standing close by Billy, pretending 
to pat his head, but every time he put his fingers through his hair, 
he tried to feel for the collar and Billy would jerk his head away. 
He was afraid the cook was going to try to take off his collar 
and Billy had made up his mind many moons before this that if 
ever any one tried to take it off he would fight them to the death. 
Just then a little breeze blew Billy’s hair up so that it showed the 
medal with some engraving on it, and the cook saw it read : 

“This collar was presented to Billy Whiskers by the — th New 
York Regiment for his bravery in battle.” 

Well, Billy, I certainly am glad to see you! But I bet you have 
left many sad hearts behind you. I am homesick to be back with 
my old regiment, but I can’t go. Perhaps you haven’t noticed 
that I have a wooden leg and that part of my right arm is gone. 
If it was only my leg that was gone, I would be back, leg or no 
leg. But without my arm, I can’t shoot or carry a bayonet. It 
breaks my heart to be near enough to hear the roar of battle as I 
am here, and know I can’t be in it, killing off those pigs of Germans!” 

Just then from down the road came the sound of a high powered 
motor car, and the cook, stepping on a big stone to see the better, 
exclaimed, “It is the General, by hookey! And I bet he is coming 

2 4 


Billy Whiskers in France 

in here for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, as he knows I can get 
it for him quicker than if he went on to the village restaurant, and 
better, too. He always said no one could make coffee like I can.” 

Billy waited to hear no more, but started to find a place to hide, 
well knowing the General 
would carry him back to 
camp if he saw him, even 
if he had to take him in the 
auto with him. 

The cook had forgotten 
all about Billy in his ex- 
citement at seeing the 
General. Billy took ad- 
vantage of this to whisper 
to the dogs, telling them 
what was up and they 
all followed him as he ran 
toward the stable to try to 
find a place to hide. Just 
as Billy was about to turn the corner of the stable, he saw the Gen- 
eral’s big touring car turn in the lane. 

“Gee, fellows, I’m lost if that cook even mentions my being here! 
For the General is equal to sending a whole squad of soldiers to 

25 



Billy Whiskers in France 

find me and bring me back to camp. It would not be the first time 
he has done it, either!” 

By this time Billy and the dogs had run into the little grove of 
trees spoken of before, but they stayed near enough the edge to be 
able to see if any one started to hunt for Billy. 

“I tell you what I think would be a good plan,” said the Red 
Cross dog. “Have one of the dogs go back and hang around where 
he could hear everything the cook says to the General. In that way 
we will know whether or not he tells the General that you are 
here.” 

“Excellent idea, that!” agreed Billy. 

“Pinky, you would be the best one to go. You are so small that 
you can squeeze in anywhere out of sight under a chair or sofa, and 
listen to all that is said.” 

“Oh, I don’t want to go! I am afraid they will kick me out if 
they should catch me listening. Besides, I want to stay here and 
hear Mr. Billy Whiskers relate his experiences. It is so dull here 
after Paris that I just long for some excitement, and I am sure Mr. 
Whiskers’ tales will be all that.” 

“You run along, Miss Pinky, and I’ll tell you just what I tell 
them some other time all by yourself. Besides, you won’t miss much 
as our friend here, the Red Cross dog, can tell you adventures a 
hundred times more exciting than I can.” 

26 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Oh, no, he can’t. But I will go if you promise to repeat word for 
word to me all you tell them when we are alone some time.” 



“Thank you very much, Miss Pinky.” 

“Don’t call me Pinky! That is not my name! It is only a nasty, 

27 


Billy Whiskers in France 

mean nickname the dogs have given me because I am afflicted with 
pink lids to my eyes, the same as many poodle dogs. I just hate 
that name! But I can’t stop them from using it.” 

“And pray what is your real name?” asked Billy. 

“Rosie de la France. And it is such a pretty one I like to be called 
by it.” 

“Well, hereafter I will call you Mademoiselle Rosie de la France. 
But I cannot see much difference between Rosie and Pinky, as they 
are both pretty much the same color.” 

“Yes, if you look at it in that way. But it is the meaning hidden 
under it that I hate.” 

“Never mind now what you are called, but run along or you will 
be too late to hear all the cook says to the General,” said the Red 
Cross dog. 

The dogs then all lay down under the trees in a semi-circle around 
Billy and the Red Cross dog, so they could hear every word that 
was said by either of them, but every one of them kept an eye open 
for any one who might round the corner of the stable. Billy and 
the Red Cross dog had told them their most exciting experiences 
in the war, interposed by stories from the other dogs, when they 
heard the hum and buzz of the big motor as it drove out of the lane, 
and at the same time they saw Pinky running toward them so fast 
one could scarcely see her for dust. 

28 


Billy Whiskers in France 

She ran into their midst panting and all out of breath, and between 
gasps tried to tell them that she had slipped into the sitting-room 
and sneaked under a big davenport with a cover thrown over it that 
hid her completely, but where she could hear every word that w T as 
spoken in the room. The General was sitting at a little table only 
a few feet from her, eating the good things the cook had brought 
to him on a tray. 

He seemed in a very good humor,” she said, “and was laughing 
and joking with two officers who were with him when I had the 
misfortune to sneeze. You would have thought I had thrown a bomb 
the way those three men jumped to their feet and reached for their 
swords ! 

“ Who sneezed?’ ” thundered the General. 

“ ‘There is some one hiding in this room!’ exclaimed one of his 
staff. 

“ ‘Come out of the closet or from behind those curtains or wherever 
you are before I shoot!’ commanded the General. 

“Of course no one came out, and I crouched down nearer the 
floor than ever and prayed that they would not lift the cover of 
that davenport and see me. I could see through the thin ruffle 
of the davenport cover and there they all stood stock still, with 
eyes searching every nook and corner of the room. Then what do 
you think happened? I sneezed again, and expected to be killed 

29 


Billy Whiskers in France 

on the spot, but I could not help it as there was a lot of moth balls 
right under my nose, put there to keep the moths from eating the 
carpet. Well, if you will believe it, every man of them jumped again 
as if shot. I could see their feet leave the floor. And one of the 
staff said in a stage whisper, ‘Spies behind that curtain!’ Then 
he marched toward it with sword in hand, and brushed the curtain 
aside. Of course there was no one there. Then the other staff 
officer flung open the closet door. No one there! Still they had 
heard two distinct sneezes. The General stalked to the window 
and looked out as it opened on the ground. I expect he thought 
some one might be hiding under the window, listening. No one 
there! Only a flower bed with bees droning and buzzing over it. 
And horror of horrors! As he leaned out of the window and the 
staff officers were looking behind chairs and under tables and even 
up to the ceiling I gave another big sneeze. I sneezed so hard it 
nearly blew my head off. I expect it was because of holding it 
in so long. 

“This of course was my undoing. One of the staff dropped on 
one knee to look under the davenport. The General jerked his 
head back through the window, and heard the staff officer exclaim 
in a loud voice, ‘Only a measley, sneaking little poodle dog!’ and 
with that he stuck his sword under the davenport to prod me out. 
It would have cut my leg off, or run right through me, I am sure, 

30 




Every man of them jumped as if shot 




Billy Whiskers in France 

but just then the cook opened the door to come in to remove the 
dishes and I jumped over the sword and ran between the legs 
of the staff officer who was standing between the davenport and the 
door, and simply flew back here. 

When I got outside I did sneak around under the window, and 
heard them all laughing over the fact that a little dog’s sneeze had 
given them such a fright. The General said ‘Better be on the right 
side than on the wrong, and many a warning as small as a sneeze 
gone unheeded has cost many lives. I would rather be too careful 
than not careful enough.’ You see they all thought I was a spy 
hidden in the room somewhere. Then I heard the cook say, ‘General, 
has the Regiment still got the big white goat they used to have as a 
mascot?’ 

“ ‘No, I am sorry to say he has been missing since a week ago to-day, 
and we can not get any trace of him. One of our ambulance drivers 
saw him on the road to Paris, and tried to catch him, but he could 
not. He nearly had him when a friend fell off a bridge into a creek, 
and would have drowned had he not left the goat and gone to his 
assistance. I would not have lost that goat for a thousand dollars. 
He knows more than most men.’ 

“ ‘Well, General, you have lost your thousand dollars. I know 
where your goat is at this minute.’ 

“‘You do? Well, produce him and the money is yours. You 


3i 


Billy Whiskers in France 

know Billy is like the proverbial flea. Now you have him and now 
you don’t. If you will show me that goat now, we’ll have him 
in my office at camp headquarters to-morrow. I’ll give you a check 
for one thousand dollars, too.’ 

“ ‘I’ll do it for you gladly, General, as you have done me many 
a good turn, but I cannot accept your money. And now if you 
will step to the door, I will show you Billy, the Mascot of the Regi- 
ment, quietly eating out of a trough at the back kitchen door.’ 

“The General and his staff picked up their caps and swords and 
followed the cook around the house to the dogs’ trough, but as you 
know, no goat was there. 

“The General had to laugh at the blank look on the cook’s face 
when he turned the corner of the hospital and saw that the goat and 
all his dogs too had disappeared as completely as if swallowed up 
by an earthquake. 

‘“Well, that beats everything I ever saw! He was here a few 
minutes ago. In fact, just when you drove in eight or ten of our 
dogs with Billy in their midst were all standing here eating and now 
not an animal is in sight anywhere. It beats all! I can’t explain 
it!” 

“ ‘I can,’ said the General. ‘That goat recognized my car, thought 
I was after him and lit out. He has done it before, and i doubt 


32 


Billy Whiskers in France 

if any of us will ever see him again. I tell you he is sharper than 
the devil, whose cloven hoof he has!’ 

“ ‘General, will you kindly do me the favor to wait till I blow 
my dog whistle? That is the signal for all the dogs to gather here. 
We will see if Billy does not come running with them.’ 

The General waited. The cook blew his whistle repeatedly but 
no dogs showed up. Then the cook ran to the barn and around it, 
looking in every known hiding place the dogs had, but no goat or 
dog did he see. And he came back to the General and said, ‘Well, 
General, I shall have to give up beaten. He has gone and, what is 
more, he has taken every dog with him that is not confined to a 
hospital bed. I can’t find hide or hair of any of them, but I am 
so mad that I am ready to devote months, if need be, to finding that 
tricky goat. And when I do I will return him to you even if I 
bring only his hide, horns and tail!’ 

“ ‘Well, here is luck to you, but I hope you will bring him alive, 
and not in pieces for I could make use of a live goat, but I would 
be hard pressed to know what to do with a dead one!’ 

“Then with a hearty laugh all around, the General and his staff 
got into their auto and whizzed out of the lane, and I scurried back 
here to tell you all this.” 


33 



CHAPTER IV 


THE GENERAL RECAPTURES BILLY 

HANK you, Miss Rosie de la France, for finding out so 
much for me. You certainly did have a narrow escape 
when under that davenport and you sneezed for you 
might have had your legs cut off by that officer’s sword. 
So the cook is going to catch me and bring me to the General, alive 
or dead, is he? I can tell him right now that he will never be able 
to give so much as one hair of my beard to him !” 

“Here comes the cook now!” exclaimed one of the dogs. “We 
better scoot!” 

With that they all jumped up and ran in different directions, 
Billy choosing a long, circuitous course that would bring him out 
on the Paris road. Then and there he gave up the idea of returning 
to the war and entering the army again with the Red Cross dog. 

He soon reached the road, and once on it he put his head down 
like a race horse to resist the wind, and ran as he had never run 
before, jumping stones, ditches and uneven places on the roadway 
until he was completely winded. As it took a great deal to wind 
Billy Whiskers, you may know he traveled many, many miles and 
left the dogs’ hospital far behind. 

35 



Billy Whiskers in France 


“I shall stop running when I come to the next stream, get a 
drink, take a bath, and eat whatever I can find by the roadside. 
Then after a good rest I shall start on again,” he planned. 

All of this he did, and he was 
hidden behind a big bush beside 
the road down by 
a stream, watching 
the big ambu- 
lances and 
high powered 
touring cars 
go thunder- 
ing by in 
' endless pro- 
cession when, 
all plans to 
the contrary, 
he dropped 
asleep. It 
seemed but a minute 
to him after his eyes 
had closed when he felt something tight around his neck. He tried 
two or three times to loosen it by stretching his neck without taking 

36 



Billy Whiskers in France 

the bother to open his eyes, but when at last he did open them, he saw 
standing around him three officers with broad grins on their faces. 
And behind them was the old General in his touring car, waiting for 
his officers to bring Billy to him I 

“I certainly was caught napping that time I” thought Billy to 
himself. “And they have me all right enough now with this strong 
rope around my neck. It is queer I did not hear them coming! 
It must have been I was so tired that it made me sleep like the dead.” 

“Come, get up, Billy, you old rascal, and come along without 
any fuss! For you are a smart enough goat to see that there is 
no use resisting with a rope around your neck and five men against 
you — we three officers with the General and his chauffeur.” 

Yes, Billy saw all this and as he walked along quietly behind them 
he wondered where they were going to put him. They could not 
mean to tie him behind the car as no goat, even if fitted out with 
twenty league boots, could keep up with the General’s car at the 
rate he drove. And with three staff officers, the General and the 
chauffeur he could not see where there would be room inside the 
car. 

“Well, Master Billy, you thought you had escaped from me for 
good, didn’t you? But you see you haven’t. And, what is more, 
you won’t escape in a hurry again, for I propose taking you right 
along with us, though it will crowd us some. Here I was bluster- 

37 


Billy Whiskers in France 

ing about and scolding the chauffeur for his carelessness in not 
seeing that we had water enough in the car to carry us through 
when the very lack of it led us to finding you. He got out to 
carry a bucket of water from the stream and found you so fast 
asleep behind the bush that you had not heard our approach in the 
car or even the chauffeur’s steps when within three or four feet 
of you. He had time to come back to the car and tell us what he 
had found, get a rope and the three officers to help me capture 
you while you slept on. Now, my dear Billy, you are my prisoner. 
If you behave, you shall have every care and comfort, but try to 
escape, and I shall send a bullet through you, for I shall stand no 
nonsense. Hear that?” and the General pulled Billy’s beard in 
a joking manner. But Billy knew he would do as he said if he 
tried to escape or cut up any monkeyshines. So he quietly let 
them help him into the car, where he stood between the two seats 
in the tonneau while they tied him to the rod at the back of the 
front seat on which the extra robes hung. 

Billy was experiencing one of his rare moments of dejection and 
discouragement, for he knew if they once succeeded in getting him 
back in camp it would be very difficult indeed to escape as they 
would use every precaution to keep him there and they might even 
put him inside the electrically charged barbed wire fence where 
they kept the German prisoners. That would be horrible indeed! 

38 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“I must think up some way to escape before we reach camp or 
I am lost,” thought Billy. “How I ever can unless we have a 
breakdown is more than I can tell!” 

Presently they came to the dogs’ hospital and whizzed by it at 
full speed, but not too fast for Billy to see standing at the gate 
the cook, or for him to get the cook’s expression of surprise and 
wonder when he saw Billy in the General’s car. Billy also saw 
the Red Cross dog close at the cook’s heels. 

“I am glad they saw me for now the dog will know what has 
become of me,” thought Billy. 

Presently the big car slowed down and went bumping and slid- 
ing over a terrible piece of road that was being repaired. 

“Now would be my chance to jump out while they are going 
slower if I only were not tied. And I can’t chew the rope loose 
right under these men’s noses, either. Perhaps when they stop 
for supper I may get a chance.” 

Just then there was a terrible explosion as one of the tires blew 
out, and at the same time the car slipped on the soft, shifting gravel 
with which they were repairing the roadway and slid down into 
the ditch. 

“Now we are ditched and in for a long delay!” exclaimed the 
General. “I simply must get to camp with these plans within 
the next three hours. Stop the first car that passes here and I 

39 


Billy Whiskers in France 

will make whoever is in it take me to camp while you officers stay 
here and help the chauffeur repair the damages and get the car 
out of the ditch. That should not be a hard job but only a tedious 
one for the men working on the highway can help you out of the 
ditch and the chauffeur can mend the tire for I expect the ex- 
plosion was due to a bursted tube.” 

It was one thing to say get the men on the road to help but 
where were those men? Nowhere in sight, but several miles down 
the road working on another bad stretch. 

“I hear a car coming!” exclaimed the General. “Make ready 
to stop it, Lieutenant Strong!” 

In less time that it takes to tell it, the car had come, stopped 
and taken the General aboard. As the General waved good-by 
to them, he called back, “I wish you luck, gentlemen! I will 
keep your supper hot for you!” to which Billy replied with 
a loud baa. This made the staff officers laugh, for his voice sounded 
exactly like a cross old man saying “Bah!” in derision to the Gen- 
eral’s joking remark. 

As soon as the General was out of sight, the officers fell to and 
tried to lift and push the car up into the road. But they might 
as well have tried to move a huge rock for it did not so much as 
budge an inch. It was embedded too deep in the sand and loose 
gravel. 


40 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“This is most provoking!” said one of the officers. “It means that 
we must try to stop some passing car and get them to help us. When 
they see it is the General’s car that is in trouble they will feel in 
duty bound to aid us, no matter whether they really want to or not. 
But I just hate the job of stopping any one for that purpose as it 
always makes any one provoked to be so hailed on the road.” 

“Here comes a farmer driving a pair of horses hitched to an old 
wagon. Let us stop him. I think his horses can pull us out if 
we all push,” suggested another of the officers. 

“Now is my chance!” thought Billy, and he was just about to 
chew at the rope around his neck when the farmer came up and 
stopped opposite them to see if he could help them any. 

“Yes,” replied one of the officers. “You are just the man we 
have been looking for to give us a lift out of this ditch.” 

“Wal, that is a purty durn big car of your’n. But I guess my 
hosses kin pull her out. That is, if I only had a rope to tie to the 
back of my wagon, but I can’t get hide nor hair of any rope or 
chain or nothin’.” 

“We have a rope,” answered one of the officers. “We always 
carry a good strong rope for just such purposes under one of the 
seats. Here, Jean, get it out and we will see how soon these horses 
can pull us out.” 

Jean, the chauffeur, stopped working on the tire to get the rope, 

4i 


Billy Whiskers in France 

but alas! when he looked under the seat no rope was there. From 
the fury into which the officers flew, Billy thought they were going 
to kill the fellow on the spot for his carelessness, first running out 
of water and now finding no rope. 

“You are discharged the minute you get us to camp!” roared 
the superior officer. “And what is more, I shall see that the Gen- 
eral has you severely punished. What if the enemy were at our 
heels and we were trying to escape from them, or we had important 
dispatches that must get to Headquarters to change some movement 
of the army that would mean the saving of hundreds and thousands 
of lives?” 

At last the chauffeur managed to say, “Could we not use the 
rope that is around the goat’s neck to pull the car out of the sand? 
It is a very long one. In fact, it is the rope that belongs under 
the seat. In my excitement I forgot I had used it to tie the goat.” 

“Of course we can! And to keep him from escaping we can tie 
him with one of the farmer’s reins.” 

“Here, you Billy, stand still while I take this rope off your neck.” 
The chauffeur stood on the step, leaning through the open door of 
the tonneau as he untied the rope that was around Billy’s neck, with 
the farmer standing behind him ready to hand him one of his reins 
to secure Billy again. 

“Here is a good chance to escape,” thought Billy. “To be sure, 

42 


Billy Whiskers in France 

I will have to run the chance of one of the officers shooting me, 
but I will take it. For I would rather be shot than carried back 
to camp and shut up with a lot of German prisoners.” 

At the moment Billy was forming his plan of escape, all the 
officers were fussing on the car at one place or another trying to 
dig out the wheels by shoveling a path for them in the sand. 



Seeing all this, Billy made up his mind he would butt the chauffeur 
so hard he would knock all the breath out of him so he could not 
cry out and give the alarm. So just as the farmer stepped close 
behind the chauffeur to hand him the rein, and the rope was off 
Billy’s neck, Billy gave a plunge forward and planted his head 
in the middle of the chauffeur’s stomach, sending him backward 

43 


Billy Whiskers in France 

with all the breath knocked out of his body and with such force 
that he hit the farmer and sent him sprawling on his back, with 
his head hanging over the ditch. Now just as his head hit the 
ditch, the officer who was shoveling a path for the car raised up 
and the farmer in turn hit him and sent him flying into the ditch. 
There were three men disposed of in one butt. That left only two 
to shoot or pursue him, and both of these were on the far side of 
the auto and had not noticed anything as their heads were down 
and they were busy tugging big stones out of the way of the wheels. 
So Billy had a good start of a hundred yards or more before the 
officer who had been sent rolling into the ditch could right himself 
and give the alarm. By the time he found out what really had 
hit him, Billy had run to the side of the road, jumped a fence and 
disappeared in a thick woods. The officer’s anger knew no bounds, 
and he swore a blue streak and fired two shots after Billy. 

“Thunder and lightning, I would not have had that goat escape 
for a million dollars,” he exclaimed. 

“Bet your small change first,” counseled another. 

“Yes; his escape puts us in a pretty light, doesn’t it? Five able- 
bodied men not able to keep one goat in an auto! To be sure, one 
man was not a man, only an idiot of a chauffeur, ” he stormed. 

“Say, Jean, you better stop working on that tire and go hang 
yourself with the rope in your hand!” scoffed the third, “for you 

44 


Billy Whiskers in France 

are likely to be hung in earnest when you get to camp for all the 
mistakes you have made to-day, to say nothing of losing the goat 
besides.” 

But poor Jean heard this not at all for he was still unconscious 
from Billy’s terrific butt. 

“Some goat, that, misters!” said the farmer in a dry way. 

“I guess you would think so if you knew just a little of his history!” 

“You don’t mean to tell me that that there goat is the one they 
call the — th Regiment’s mascot, and the one the papers are always 
telling about?” 

“Same goat!” 

“Wal, I’ll be gosh darned!” in astonishment. 

Jean did not come to and one of the officers had to run to the 
auto for restoratives while Jean was stretched out on the back seat 
with his head in a second officer’s lap. In falling he had hit his 
head on a stone and the wound was now bleeding profusely. The 
soldiers tied their handkerchiefs around his head and tried to stop 
the flow of blood as best they could and after the car was out of 
the ditch they drove so fast they were in danger of breaking their 
necks or having the car turn turtle at every turn. 

When at last they did reach camp and got the chauffeur into 
the hospital and reported to the General for duty, they were in 
a pretty mess and looked as if they had been in a pitched battle 

45 


Billy Whiskers in France 

with the enemy for they were covered with dirt and blood from 
their heads to their heels, which made the General exclaim when 
he saw them, “Well, bless my soul, you are a nice looking crowd! 
Whatever has happened to you?” 


46 


CHAPTER V 


BILLY NEARLY KILLS THE COOK 

HEN Billy was sure he was not being followed, he 
went a circuitous way back to the dogs’ hospital that he 
might stop and have the fun of telling them how he 
escaped from the old General. 

When at last he approached the hospital from the back, he saw 
no one about, not even a dog or cat. But all the windows and 
doors were open so he knew they were at home and around some- 
where. He cautiously approached, keeping a sharp lookout for the 
cook, for he did not want him to catch him and deliver him into 
the old General’s hands. He was just rounding the pig pen when 
he saw driving into the lane one of the field hospital ambulances. 

“I expect it has come with a load of wounded dogs. I’ll just 
Stay here and watch,” pondered Billy. 

The hum of the ambulance motor was heard in the hospital and 
presently a young doctor and two trained nurses appeared at the 
door ready to receive the new patients. Billy could hear the low 
groans and yelps of pain from the dogs as the stretchers were lifted 
and the dogs were carried inside. Several dogs tagged in after 

47 




Billy Whiskers in France 

the stretcher bearers and as Billy had always wanted to have a look 
about the hospital wards, he determined to follow. 

Presently he found himself standing in the doorway of a long 
ward with tiny beds like babies’ cribs lining the wall all the way 
around, and in each bed was a dog, either curled up asleep or sitting 
upon its hind quarters watching the newcomers. 

Some of the dogs had their legs in slings; others had bandages 
over their eyes, while others were in plaster casts. Beside each 
cot was a little stand on which had been placed the medicine for 
that particular dog, along with a bowl of drinking water. 

“Gee!” exclaimed Billy. “A dog would not mind being sick 
in these quarters with all this comfort and the pretty nurses and 
the kind doctors to wait upon him. But what is that? Do my 
eyes deceive me, or am I seeing things? If so, I am a sick goat and 
I shall crawl into the first cot I find that is big enough to hold me. 
If I am not seeing things, then that big, black cat on the window 
sill is my dear old friend Button from the United States of America. 
Such being the case, Stubby, the other member of our trio, can’t 
be far off. Perhaps he is one of these wounded dogs that just came 
in the ambulance. I know how I’ll soon find out. I’ll just baa 
and if it is Button sitting in that window and Stubby is in one of 
these beds, I bet it will surprise them so that even if they are half 
dead they will come to life long enough to answer my baa.” 

48 


Billy Whiskers in France 


Billy gave one long, loud baa that resounded down the big, 
bare room like a loud clanging bell. Every person and dog in 
the long hospital ward jumped as if a bomb had exploded in the 
room, and some of the weaker \ , y 

and more timid dogs fainted 
dead away from the shock. They 
were weak from loss of blood, 
and fatigued from their hard 
work on the battlefield, having ^ 
been without anything to eat or 
drink for many hours. And I/, 
am sorry to say that Stubby was 
among them. Billy listened in 
vain for a familiar bark, but he r 
was going forward to speak to the 
cat which meowed with joy in re- 
sponse to his baa when a doctor picked ^ 
up a window pole and made towards N * 

Billy, while another grabbed the 
cat and threw it out of the window be- 
fore the cat knew what was taking place. He had been so delighted 
to hear Billy’s familiar baa that he did not even see the man ap- 
proaching. 



49 


Billy Whiskers in France 

The doctor chased out Billy and all the dogs that had tagged in, 
and shut the door behind them. 

Now Billy had not heard the answering meow, and so was still 
in some doubt as to whether or not the cat was Button, or if his old 
friend StUDby was one of the wounded dogs. As he thought of 
this he walked toward the back of the hospital into the yard. All 
the dogs which had been driven out with him were following 
him and telling him how they had enjoyed the commotion he had 
caused, and were plying him with questions as to how he got away 
from the General and back so soon, and how far he had gotten 
on the journey before he was caught. Billy paid not the slightest 
attention to any of them. In fact, he did not even hear what they 
were saying, he was so busy thinking of his two friends and wonder- 
ing how they ever got to France for when he had last seen them 
they were in New York state. 

He had gotten just this far in his musings when he turned the 
corner of the hospital and saw the black cat sitting on a packing 
box, looking up at the window from which he had been thrown. 
Billy knew in a second that the black cat was his old friend sure 
enough. On seeing Billy, the black cat made one spring and lit 
squarely on Billy’s back. Then he jumped off and ran up a tree, 
then down and over and under a wheelbarrow that was standing 
near, then in among the dogs that were surrounding Billy as if 

50 


Billy Whiskers in France 

to try to save him from the onslaught of this crazy acting cat which 
they all thought was having a fit. 

Yes, it was a fit, but not from sickness, but rather from joy at 
beholding Billy alive and in the flesh when he had been given up 
long ago for dead. 

Presently the cat quieted down and came and stood before Billy, 
and gazed and gazed and gazed into his eyes without saying a word. 
And Billy gazed back, wondering in his own mind what on earth had 
made the dignified Button act so crazily. After this long scare, 
the cat meowed, “Well, Billy, old fellow, I see it is really you in 
the flesh and not some other goat that looks like you. But how 
you ever managed to keep from being killed is more than I know. 
All of us had given you up as dead and mourned for you for 
months. Nannie, your poor little wife, is still bewailing your loss. 
You see, we thought you were done for from an item in the news- 
paper, which I heard my master read aloud one morning. I can’t 
give it to you just as it was written, but the gist of the matter was 
that the — th Regiment with its celebrated white goat mascot, Billy 
Whiskers, had marched to the front on May twenty-first but that, 
sad to relate, few returned and those that did were badly wounded. 
A great many had been taken prisoners and whether their mascot 
had been killed or captured, those returning did not know. Stub 
and I did not feel you were killed, and that if you were captured 

5 1 


Billy Whiskers in France 

you would find some way to escape. We then and there made up 
our minds to cross the ocean and look for you, for we were bound 
to find you if you still lived. And here we two have stumbled 
into you just when we had given up all hope of you being alive.” 
And off went Button, running up one tree and then another, around 
in circles and jumping over and through hedges and flower beds. 
Once he made the dogs all laugh for by mistake he ran up an old 
gardener s back as he was stooping over digging away, thinking it 
was a stump, he was so nearly the color of the trees and grasses of 
the garden. The old fellow was so surprised that he fell headlong 
into the ditch he was digging. 

You see, Billy, I am so delighted to see you I can’t keep still.” 

“I am just as glad to see you, but I can’t jump around like a crazy 
loon to show it. Come here until we rub noses in the place of a 
kiss 1” said Billy. 

“I must run and tell Stubby. He will be so delighted it will help 
him stand his pain and he will get well sooner. But how am I to get 
into this blooming building again? Aren’t there some back stairs, 
fire escapes or something of the like I could go up to get to his 
ward?” 

“No, there are no fire escapes on any of these country buildings 
that have been turned into hospitals,” replied the Red Cross dog. 
“What we need more than fire escapes is a bomb proof cellar 

52 


Billy Whiskers in France 

large enough to carry our patients into when we have an air raid.” 

“I’ll te ^ y° u how you can get in,” spoke up Pinky. “Wait until 
the nurses begin to carry suppers up to their patients, and then you 
can creep along at their heels and, being black, you can hide in the 
shadows until they leave the ward. Only the night nurse will then 
be on duty and she will soon fall asleep. Then you can creep out 
and go to your friend’s cot and tell him all the news.” 

“Splendid idea! Thank you very much! Won’t some one intro- 
duce me to this dog?” 

“Goodness gracious me! Do excuse me, Button, for being so im- 
polite, but joy at seeing you drove all my good manners out of my 
mind. It is not too late now, and I wish to introduce you to all 
my friends you see standing around us.” 

After they had all been presented to Button, they went over to the 
grove of trees where the dogs always went when they wished to talk 
without interruption, and they agreed to stay there until time for 
the patients to have their supper, for they were very curious to hear 
how the big, black cat got all the way from the United States of 
America to France, and also to hear how Billy got away from the 
old General. 

They were all trotting along as fast as they could through the 
barnyard with heads down, thinking what a fine time was in store for 
them listening to the goat and cat relate their adventures, when the 

53 


Billy Whiskers in France 

Red Cross dog heard a peculiar croak and, looking around, he saw 
the cook astride Billy’s back, trying to get a rope around his neck. 
Now the rope had just slipped over Billy’s head and the cook gave 
it a pull that nearly strangled him and made him make the croak- 
ing noise that caused the Red Cross dog to turn around. 

“Gee, that is too bad !” sighed the dog, and Pinky said : 

“Just my luck! I never counted on having a good time that some- 
thing did not come along and spoil it! I expect the cook won’t 
rest now until he has delivered Billy to the old General.” 

“I wonder where the cook is going to put him now he has him,” 
said one of the dogs. 

“Goodness knows! I don’t!” replied Pinky. 

“Why, look! He is going over toward the hospital with him,” 
said another. 

“Let’s follow and see what he is going to do with him,” suggested 
the Red Cross dog. “But keep out of sight and don’t let the cook 
know we are following him,” he warned. 

So they all separated, slinking along in the shadows, dodging 
behind trees, boxes and barrels, their eyes glued to the cook’s back. 

Instead of hiding, Pinky walked out in plain sight, and trotted 
along at the cook’s heels, and she heard him mutter to himself: 
“I’H J’ ust P ut this f o x y old eoat in that vacant room in the hospital 

54 


Billy Whiskers in France 

and lock him in and then we will see if he is smart enough to butt 
down the hospital!” 

“He might not try,” whispered Pinky to herself. “But I bet he 
could butt down the door if he took it into his head he wanted to 
do it.” 

The cook got Billy to the foot of the stairs leading to the porch of 
the hospital. Here the cook went ahead and tried to lead Billy 
up. But all of a sudden Billy planted his fore feet straight in front 
of him and pulled back. His quick stop accompanied by the jerk 
nearly cracked the cook s head off his shoulders and Billy, giving a 
second pull just then, jerked the cook backwards off the steps where 
he landed at the bottom, sitting straight up and facing Billy, with 
their noses not three inches apart. He looked so comical with his 
legs spread apart, cap on one side of his head and his hair standing 
straight up, that Billy had to laugh. Surely the cook’s startled ex- 
pression was a study as he gazed into Billy’s eyes. 

On seeing this, the dogs all laughed out loud. The cook jumped 
up and looked around to see who was making sport of him, but of 
course he saw no one. So he thought some one must have been lean- 
ing out of one of the upper windows, then quickly ducked after they 
laughed. Anyway, he would make Billy pay for his discomfort. 
He jerked him up the steps and was about to shove him into the room 


55 


Billy Whiskers in France 


he had just unlocked when Billy gave a big, big pull and started 
to run off the porch. He ran so fast and was so strong that he jerked 
the cook along as if he had been a rag. Along the porch they 
went until Billy came to one end. Here there were no steps, so 
% # V-, ~ just & ave a big leap 

' s - *. and landed in the 

middle of a flower 
bed, the cook sail- 
ing on behind, hang- 
ing on to the rope 
that was still 
around Billy’s 
neck. And it was 
a lucky thing for 
the cook that 
there happened to 
be a nice soft 
flower bed right there for him to fall in; otherwise he might have 
broken his back. 

Billy gave another pull to the rope which brought the cook to 
his feet, and away went Billy across the lawn and down the lane, 
jerking the cook around trees, over stumps and bee hives, upsetting 
them and causing all the bees to come out to see what was the matter. 

56 



Billy Whiskers in France 

For a while the air seemed to Billy to be black with bees. Then 
they stung the cook so that he let go the rope and rolled in the grass 
to try to keep them off his face. But they settled on him thick as 
flies on a molasses covered paper. 

“Run for the watering trough in the barnyard!” called a nurse 
who saw all this, and the cook did, diving headfirst into the water 
to drive off the bees, which it did effectively. 

Billy thought they could not sting up through his long hair, and 
he stood enjoying seeing the cook trying to fight them off. But 
all of a sudden one bee stung him on the ear. The pain made him 
frantic and he started for the watering trough, regardless of the 
fact that the cook was still sitting on the edge, rubbing his swollen 
face and hands and putting mud on them to take out the burning, 
stinging pain. Strange as it may seem, neither the cook nor Billy 
paid the slightest attention to each other. They were too much 
occupied each in trying to stop the pain of the bee stings. 

Presently the cook got up and limped into the kitchen, saying 
to himself as he went, “That goat sure has the devil inside of him! 
I’ll never try to capture him again for the General. No, not for 
the President of the United States himself! I am done! What 
with having my head jerked off, my spine driven through the top 
of my head, and my legs nearly broken off, to say nothing of 

57 


Billy Whiskers in France 

running me into stumps, trees and beehives, I’ve got enough of 
that goat, even with one thousand dollars as a reward offered for 
his return. No! No more at all, at all, do I ever have anything 
to do with goats!” 


58 


CHAPTER VI 


BILLY RELATES SOME OF HIS ADVENTURES 



H, Billy, are you hurt?” whined Pinky at his 
heels. 

“Yes. I have a bee sting on my ear that 
hurts like the very mischief. And, by Jove, I be- 
lieve I have another over my eye for it is fast swelling 
shut.” 

Come with us,” said the Red Cross dog, “over to the grove 
before it closes entirely and you can’t see where to walk. 
When we get there I’ll fix you up for I know what is good for 
stings.” 

On the way they had to cross over a little stream with a soft, 
muddy bank, and the Red Cross dog stopped there and said, “Now 
stoop down and rub your head in the mud so it will cover your eye 
and get into the lid where the sting is. As soon as the mud closes 
over it you will find that the pain will stop almost instantly. I 
have seen my master rub mud on too many stings not to know it 
is a sure cure.” 


59 



Billy Whiskers in France 


“Gee, but I hate to get that nasty mud in my ear and all over 
my face!” 

mind the dirt! It is clean 
dry and fall off itself so it won’t 
out of your ear or off your face, 
you can just shut your eyes, hold 
dip your head up and down in 


“ N eve r 
mud and will 
be hard to get 
Should it be, 
your breath and - 
the trough un- /fj . 

. ,, vl v 

again 



til your hair is as white as snow 

“Well, I’ve got to do some- 
thing, dirt or no dirt, for this 
pain is setting me crazy. So 
here goes!” 

Billy knelt down and 
') J'/ U rubbed and rubbed and 
rubbed one side of his head 
& up and down in the soft 
mu< ^ was as brown 

as an African’s face. When 

' — — 

at last he stood up all 
v. the dogs tried not to laugh, 


but finally they went oft in a perfect howl of merriment. 
“What you laughing at?” asked Billy. 

60 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Just step here where the water is clear and look at yourself,” 
said the Red Cross dog. 

This Billy did, and then he too began to laugh, for he was a 
most comical sight. One side of his face looked twice as large as 
the other, and on this side the eye was swollen shut with a bump 
as big as a hen s egg standing out above it. And this whole side 
of his head was as brown as could be while the other was white, 
which made him look exactly as if his head had been made in two 
parts and they were misfits. 

“Hurry!” said a hound that was with them. “We better get to 
the woods. I hear some one coming!” and away scampered the 
dogs and goat to the grove, their old trysting place. 

I should like to have had a picture of them as they stood beside 
the clear stream, with the dogs surrounding the mumpsy looking 
goat, laughing at his discomfort. 

There was the big St. Bernard, majestic and tall; the long, sleek, 
black hound with tan ears and feet; the fluffy white French poodle 
with pinkish eyes; and the Red Cross Belgian dog with his short, 
sharp ears, wide-awake face and short, glossy black hair, while 
over his breast was still the white band with the Red Cross 
on it. 

Once in the woods and comfortably fixed, Billy related to them 
the story of his life and how and where he first met the big black 

61 


Billy Whiskers in France 

cat they had just seen, and the little yellow dog that was now wounded 
and in the hospital. 

“Before you begin, Billy,” said the Red Cross dog, “I want to 
ask if the pains in your ear and eye are better?” 

Why, bless my soul, they don’t hurt at all! Even the swelling 
is going down. You sure are some doctor!” 

Nov/ go on with your story, and excuse me for having interrupted 
you.” 

Well, to begin with, all three of us — the little yellow dog named 
Stubby, the big black cat called Button and myself — were born in 
the United States of America. We have known each other for years 
and been great chums. Why, we have scarcely been out of sight 
of one another for years until I joined the army. My regiment left 
so unexpectedly for France that I had no way of letting them know 
I was going, as they were away at the time on a vacation. And I 
bet you we will find out when I get a chance to talk to them that the 
minute they got home and found I was gone they managed to make 
friends with some of the soldier boys and made themselves so useful 
that they brought them along. Why, do you know that we three 
have crossed the big American continent twice, and we have been 
from Northern Wisconsin away down to the Gulf of Mexico? Not 
being satisfied with that, we have crossed the Pacific to Japan and we 
all three were in the war between Russia and Japan as mascots. 

62 


Billy Whiskers in France 

Before that we crossed the Atlantic Ocean, sailed through the Straits 
of Gibraltar and over the Mediterranean Sea to Constantinople. 
We are some little globe trotters, don’t you think?” 

Heavens! It makes my head dizzy to even think of it!” said 
Pinky. 

“And you lived to tell the tale!” said the big St. Bernard. 

“Yes, as I shall live to tell the tale of this war and about all of 
you to my grandchildren when I get home,” replied Billy. 

“But you must have had a great many narrow escapes and thrilling 
experiences,” suggested the hound. 

‘ I should think so ! More than would fill a book the size of Web- 
ster’s dictionary. As for hurts, bruises and scars, I have been 
wounded so many times I don’t believe there is a square inch on my 
body that has not a scar of some kind on it. It is a good thing I am 
not a hairless goat, like those little hairless dogs they have in Mexico, 
for if I was, I would look like a tattooed man,” said Billy. 

“Tell us of your most thrilling experience,” begged the Red Cross 
dog. 

Heavens! I have had so many hairbreadth escapes I would not 
know which one to pick out.” 

“Tell us two or three of them,” said Pinky. “I just love to hear 
you tell of your adventures.” 

“Yes, do!” exclaimed all the other dogs in chorus. 


Billy Whiskers in France 

Just then Billy gave his head a shake and a big clod of dry mud 
fell off his eye, leaving it practically well and the swelling gone. 

“A mighty quick cure, I should say,” remarked Billy. “I recom- 
mend you, Doctor Red Cross!” 

“Turn your head to one side and shake it and I think the rest of 
the mud will fall off. Then by holding your head well over on one 
side, the mud will fall out of your ear.” 

All this Billy did. 

“My, but it certainly does feel good to be able to see out of both 
eyes and hear with both ears once again! So you all want to hear 
of some thrilling adventure I have had? Well, let me see which 
one I shall tell first, about being wrecked at sea, falling in the crack 
of an earthquake that opened at my feet, or being blown up by a 
bomb in this war or — ” 

“Oh, don’t tell us anything about bombs!” exclaimed Pinky. 
“They are too common around here. We want to hear something we 
don’t know so much about.” 

“Well, then I guess I’ll tell you about the earthquake experience. 
It happened when Stubby, Button and myself were in San Francisco. 

“One day we were trotting along one of the streets in Chinatown, 
the name given to the Chinese quarters of that city. It was about 
lunch time, and Button had jumped up into a milk wagon that had 
stopped opposite us, to see if he could not find some milk to drink, 

64 


Billy Whiskers in France 

Stubby had run into a butcher shop to see if he could find some 
meat, and I decided to sneak into some Chinaman’s back yard and 
see what I could find to make a meal. 

Presently I came to a long, narrow, dark passageway that led to 
a back yard. I sneaked in quickly, so a Chinaman looking out the 



window would not see me. But alas, he did, and I had scarcely 
gotten half way down the passage when I heard a door slam shut 
behind me and a bolt slipped into place. I knew before I even 
turned around, when I heard that bolt slip into place, that I was 
caught in a trap like as not. But I went right on pretending I 
did not hear the Chinaman shut the door. 

65 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“The end of the passage opened into the back yard of a Chinese 
laundry and there were lines and lines stretched from one side of 
the yard to the other, but there were no clothes hanging on them 
when I went in. Without paying any attention to me, the China- 
man began to take down the lines, but instead of taking them all 
down, he only took a short one, I noticed. Then he made a slip 
knot in one end, whistling as he walked toward the laundry. He 
went inside, still without looking at me, and I was beginning to 
think I had been mistaken and he had not seen me enter and that 
the rope was not to tie me up, when out he came with a carrot in 
one hand, the rope still in the other. 

He came straight toward me, holding out the carrot in one hand 
while he kept the other behind him. As he approached me he 
kept saying, ‘Nice little goatee! Nice little goatee! Have a carrot!’ 

“And I thought to myself, ‘You might as well try to catch a bird 
by putting salt on its tail as to try to catch me with a carrot in one 
hand and a rope hidden in the other behind your back, especially 
when that rope has a slip knot in it. Oh, no, Mr. Chinaman, I 
was not born yesterday or the day before! And unless you open 
that door quickly and let me out, you are going to be carried out 
of it on my horns. I am in no mood for play or jokes!’ 

Just then another Chinaman came out of the laundry with a 
basket heaped up with clothes to hang on the line, and the China- 

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Billy gave one long, loud baa that resounded down the big, bare room. 

(Page 49) 



Billy Whiskers in France 

man with the carrot said, ‘Yum, you watcha me catcha little goatee. 
Keep little goatee. Him bring heap money at butcher’s!’ 

‘“So ho! You would sell me for chops and roasts, would you? 
Well, just you come a little nearer and see what happens to one little 
Chinaman!’ 

The Chinaman with the clothes began to hang them on the line, 
singing a queer, monotonous refrain in his cackling language. By 
this time the first Chinaman was within three feet of me, holding 
the carrot straight out before him and staring into my eyes. Evi- 
dently he was not used to goats, and felt a little uncertain as to what 
I would do. While I was watching him, expecting he would try 
to throw the rope over my head every minute, to surprise him I 
stretched my neck out quickly, grabbed the carrot out of his hand 
and ate it up. Then he came boldly up to me, as this gave him the 
assurance I was not going to butt him. But when he tried to put the 
rope around my neck, I simply lowered my head and butted him over 
flat on his back. This infuriated him, and he leaped up and grabbed 
a clothes pole to hit me with it. Then the chase began. Around 
and around that small back yard we went, upsetting everything, 
he trying to hit me all the while and I dodging him but trying to 
butt or hook him at every turn. Then I took to butting everything 
and anything that came in my way. One thing I butted was the 
basket full of clothes the second Chinaman had left, having sought 

67 


Billy Whiskers in France 

a place of safety when first the chase began. Now he sat cross- 
legged on the low roof of the back porch grinning from ear to ear 
and watching the sport. When I butted the basket, it shot straight 
up in the air, spilling out the clothes as it soared, which the wind 
caught and carried over into the other yards. 

“Presently from all the doors and windows of the adjacent build- 
ings one could see grinning faces. But not one person came to help 
that Chinaman I was butting and chasing. He must have been 
thoroughly disliked by his neighbors for them to act as they did. 
Their jeers and calls made him madder and madder and every 
time he tried to hit me with the long pole and missed, they would 
call: 

“ ‘Try it again! Try it again! Don’t give up!’ 

“Once the pole just grazed my back, and for this I went to the 
clothesline and taking a shirt sleeve in my teeth I jerked it off the 
line, stamped on it and then tore it to pieces. He nearly foamed 
at the mouth when he saw this. And I was just walking up to 
get another when some one slipped up behind me and threw a 
blanket over my head. Well, of all the rolling and tumbling that 
went on then you never saw the like! First I was on top, then 
the two Chinamen were. My legs were loose and you better believe 
I used them. I kicked and kicked. Then all of, a sudden it seemed 
as if every Chinaman in all Chinatown was sitting on top of me. 

68 


Billy Whiskers in France 

They came from over the fences, from all directions, and every one 
that came proceeded to sit on me. At last there were so many of 
them I could not move. They tied all four of my feet together 
and strung me on a pole, which they suspended over a place where 
a bonfire had been made over which to make soap. Some one re- 
moved the big kettle of soap and then they put me right where 
the kettle had been. Next they took the blanket off my head and 
began dancing around me, and spit at me and jabbed me with sticks, 
doing everything they could possibly think of to torture me. 

“The blood ran into my head so from being hung upside down 
that I could scarcely see, and the ropes binding my feet cut into 
me until I bled. But still these heathen Chinese showed no mercy 
and I was beginning to wonder if they intended leaving me to die 
a slow death when the first Chinaman said, ‘Let’s build a fire under 
him and cook him alive ! Roast goatee is velly, velly good, me hear.’ 

“This seemed to please the crowd, and they joined hands and ran 
around and around me, chanting some heathen song until the old 
Chinaman who had proposed cooking me alive came with some 
matches and shavings to start the fire. 

“Then for the first time I began to be worried, and thought, 
‘Well, at last I am in a tight place I can’t get out of,’ when I heard 
howls of pain and rage and the fierce growl of a dog. Opening 
my eyes to see what was taking place, I saw Stubby biting the 

69 


Billy Whiskers in France 

heels of the Chinaman as he stooped to light the fire, while Button 
sat on his back scratching the very shirt off him. In about two 
minutes the yard was cleared of Chinamen, I can tell you! Stubby 
bit and Button clawed them until they were glad enough to climb 
the fences to get away alive. 

“They had frightened the Chinamen off and saved me from being 
roasted to death. But how were they ever to get me off that pole? 

At last I thought, ‘Perhaps if I wriggle and squirm my weight 
will break the pole. Anyw'ay, I am going to try it.’ 

“And soon I found that by moving my body in a certain way I 
could start a certain motion that made me swing up and down and 
the more I moved the higher I went and the pole began to creak. 
Then presently it broke in two and came down all in a heap. I had 
scarcely touched the ground when Stubby and Button began to gnaw 
the ropes that bound me, and in a jiffy they had gnawed them through 
and I was loose. 

“Do you think I ran away when I was free once more? No, 
indeed, I did not! I stayed right there to get even with Mr. China- 
man who had proposed to cook me alive. It was very dark in the 
yard now as night had closed in while all the fuss was going on. So 
I proposed to hide and wait for the Chinaman to show himself 
in the yard. .Well, all I can say is that if he ever did show himself 
I had made up my mind to kill him. Stubby and Button hid too, 

70 


Billy Whiskers in France 

and then we waited. And as we waited the earth under our feet 
began to quiver and shake and low, rumbling noises were heard 
like distant thunder. These shakings and tremblings of the earth 
continued growing more and more violent until they threw me off 
my feet once or twice, while the ripping, roaring noises grew louder 
and more frequent. Presently fire bells began to ring and the night 
sky was illuminated with vivid red reflections from huge fires. But 
still we three watched for those Chinamen to come out of the house. 

“ ‘Come on, Billy!’ Stubby barked in a whisper. ‘Let us get out 
of here. We must be having one of those terrible earthquakes 
they sometimes have out here in this country.’ 

“ ‘Yes, come, Billy,’ urged Button, ‘and leave the Chinaman to 
the mercy of the ’quake. Perhaps the earth will open and swallow 
him!’ 

“ ‘Hope it does, but I am going to give him a butt that will break 
his back first. I’ll teach him not to torture goats in the future!’ 

S-s-s-s-h-h-h ! exclaimed Button. ‘I see him through the win- 
dow. He is coming now.’ 

“Cautiously the door opened a crack, and the Chinaman’s crafty 
face peered out. His eyes searched every nook and corner of the 
yard, but he saw no goat, dog or cat. Button was so black one could 
not see him as he sat on top of the fence. Stubby was hidden under 
a pile of old chairs, tables and so on, while I was close against the 

7 1 


Billy Whiskers in France 

house behind the door the Chinaman had just opened. I got there 
on purpose so that when once he stepped into the yard he could 
not go back unless he passed me for I would be between the man 
and the house. 

“ ‘What has he in his hand that smokes so?’ I wondered. ‘Why, 
it is a dipper of boiling water! Gee, I bet he intended to throw 
that on me when he saw me. Well, I’ll just sneak up behind him 
and give him a butt in the back and make him spill it on himself 
and then he can see how he would like boiling water thrown on 
him.’ 

“I did not dare to try to walk up behind him for fear I might 
stumble over something and then he would hear me and throw the 
water, so I made one big jump from behind the door and butted him 
squarely in the back. Well, I made the jump all right, but just as 
my feet left the earth it opened under me with a ripping, tearing 
noise and swallowed the Chinaman with his dipper of hot water, 
and closed again so quickly that when I came down from my jump 
I lit on solid ground where but half a second before had been a 
yawning chasm. Whoo! That was a narrow escape, for had I stood 
still the earth would have opened under me or if I had not happened 
to jump high enough I would have landed right in the opening and 
been crushed or killed as had the Chinaman. 

“The ’quake that swallowed the Chinaman had extended far and 

7 2 


Billy Whiskers in France 

shaken down lots of the old rickety buildings in the neighborhood, 
and buildings were tottering and falling all around. So Stubby, 
Button and I lost no time in getting out of that place, I can tell you. 
I simply butted down the door the Chinaman had bolted when I 
came in, and we all three ran out and down the street towards the 
Bay. I won’t stop to tell you of the destruction of the beautiful 
city and the fearful, gruesome sights and sounds we saw and heard, 
or how the flames licked up the handsome buildings after the earth- 
quake had shaken them down, for the destruction of San Francisco 
has passed into history and any one of you who wish to hear more 
of it can listen as some one is reading aloud about it. This ends 
the tale of one of my most thrilling adventures.” 

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much, Mr. Whiskers, for telling 
us this story,” exclaimed the facile Pinky. “I have enjoyed hear- 
ing it so much, though you did make my skin creep and my hair 
stand on end when you were telling of how they proposed to cook 
you alive.” 

Then all the other dogs thanked him also for relating to them this 
wonderful tale. 

“I think we better go back to the hospital and look for Button 
and see if we cannot find a way for me to slip in and see Stubby,” 
remarked Billy. 


73 



CHAPTER VII 

BUTTON FRIGHTENS TWO NURSES 



HILE Billy had been relating his adventures Button had 
been lying in a box under Stubby’s window, trying to 
think of a way to get to him and tell him that Billy was 
here in this very place. 


“If there was only a fire escape !” he sighed. “Then I could easily 
make it.” 

It was getting near supper time but he was still puzzling his brain 
over the matter when he saw one of the nurses in Stubby’s room come 
to the window and let down a rope with a basket on it. When it 
reached the ground she still stood there holding on to the rope as 
if waiting for some one to come. 

“What in the world can be going on now, I wonder,” mused Button. 

Presently from around the corner of the hospital from the kitchen 
he saw another nurse appear with a tray loaded down with the dogs’ 
supper. There not being an elevator in this old building, the nurses 
had thought out this way of saving them climbing the long flight 
of steps with the heavy trays on which they carried the dogs’ food 
to them. One nurse would go to the kitchen, get the food prepared 


75 



Billy Whiskers in France 

by the cook, and then bring it around to this window, place it in 
the basket, and the nurse in the window would pull it up. When 
the dogs had finished their meal, the dishes were lowered in the 
basket just as they had been hauled up, carried back to the kitchen 
and washed. So you see what a saving of steps this basket elevator 
really was. 

“My, if I could only manage to get in that basket and have her 
pull me up!” thought Button. 

The cat watched the nurses raise and lower the basket until pres- 
ently a nurse came from the kitchen, put the food in the basket and 
went off, forgetting to pull a string which rang a bell, the signal that 
the basket was ready to be pulled up. 

“Gee, she has forgotten to pull the string and gone off. I can 
see the nurse in the window waiting for the signal. She will get 
tired waiting pretty soon and pull it up, I believe. I am going 
over and eat up what is in that basket and hop in myself, and then 
I shall be pulled up. If the basket feels heavy, the nurse will think 
there must be an extra amount of dishes in this trip.” 

Suiting the action to the thought, Button hurried over to it, lapped 
up a cup of milk, ate some cold chicken and potatoes, and then he 
saw the basket begin to move. Without a moment’s hesitation he 
jumped in and sat on the soiled dishes and the remaining suppers. 
Up, up he was slowly drawn, and he heard the nurse mumble to 

76 


Billy Whiskers in France 

herself, “Wonder what they have in this basket to-night? It feels 
like a basket of bricks, it is so heavy. ” 

“Now if she only doesn’t see 
me until the basket is safely on ~ 
the window ledge I shall be 
lucky. I am afraid if she sees 
me, it will frighten her and she 
will let go the basket and 
down I will fall with a dull thud.” 

But just as the basket reached the ^ 

ledge of the window her attention was called \ J 
to something inside and she turned her \J nj — 

head to look, at the same time reaching her ' JZT Tl 1 

hand out and pulling the basket on to 
the window sill from force of habit. 

When she turned back to the win- 
dow, there on the sill sat a black 
cat with big, yellow eyes looking at 
her. It startled her so she screamed 
and pulled the basket in off the sill, 

and then let go the handle, and it ZZZ1 rolled under the 
bed of one of the patients, spilling out bottles of milk, biscuits, sliced 
chicken, and many other good things. 

77 





Billy Whiskers in France 

Taking advantage of the confusion, Button jumped down from 
the window and ran under the beds until he came to the one occupied 
by Stubby. Then he moved softly so as not to frighten Stubby, and 
crawled in bed under the sheets so no one could see him. No one 
did see him do it for every dog in the ward was sitting up in bed, 
straining their eyes to see what had happened by the window. 

The cat! The cat! Where did it go?” the nurse kept calling 
in an excited voice. For when she turned to look for him, the cat 
she had seen was gone. After all the nurses had looked under every 
bed and in all the corners and in every other conceivable place, they 
began to tease her and tell her it was an illusion, that she had only 
imagined she saw a cat. After awhile she began to think that per- 
haps this was the case. Still what would make her think she saw 
a cat when she did not? Especially as she had not even been thinking 
of cats? The only thing that looked as if she had seen one was that 
half the dogs’ suppers had been eaten or at least they were short some 
food. That nurse went to bed that night with a headache from try- 
ing to decide whether or not she had seen a cat. 

Soon after supper the dogs in the hospital were given their last 
dose of medicine, their bandages were straightened, and then they 
were ready to be tucked in for the night. The nurses patted the 
dogs on their heads and said good-night to them just as if they were 
people. Then they turned down the lights and went out, leaving 

73 


Billy Whiskers in France 

only the night nurse in charge in one corner of the room where she 
sat by a shaded light knitting for the soldiers and dreaming and 
praying for the safe return of her brothers and sweetheart after the 
war was over. Button did not stir until Stubby stuck his head under 
the sheet and whispered to him that he could talk now, as the nurse 
was so occupied in picking up some stitches in her knitting that she 
had dropped that she would not hear them. 

So there the two lay all curled up under the sheet, Button telling 
of the finding of Billy and Stubby listening with all his ears. When 
Button had finished, Stubby gave a great sigh and said, “Isn’t it 
wonderful to think that we should have found him in this big big 
country across the sea? My, I am so glad it will make me well 
soon. For life was not half worth living without our dear chum 
Billy. I know you agree with me, Button.” 

“I surely do!” exclaimed Button. “How is your leg, old fellow? 
Healing fast, I hope.” 

“Oh, yes. The nurse said they would take the splints off to-mor- 
row, and she doesn’t think I am going to be lame, it was healed 
so straight and fine. Isn’t that grand? For I would hate to be 
bothered limping along on a lame leg on our trips. It would be 
very inconvenient when I wished to run away when some one was 
chasing us, too. I hate to hurry you off, Button, but the night nurse 
will be coming around soon to straighten our beds and give us our 

79 


Billy Whiskers in France 

last drink for the night so I am afraid she might lift up the sheet 
and find you. But how are you going to get out of the door into 
the hall, as it is shut?” 

“Trust me! I will get out as I came — by the window.” 

“I did not know there was a fire escape by the window,” said 
Stubby. 

“There isn’t. I came up on the food basket.” And then Button 
told him how he had come up in the basket and nearly scared a 
nurse to death. 

“But you can’t go down that way because there is no one here 
to let the basket down,” objected Stubby. 

“I don’t need any basket to go down in. All I need is the rope, 
and as it is fastened to the wall I will just have to slide down it.” 

“Oh, Button, but you are a smart cat! You should have been 
born a man, not a cat. If you had, the world would have heard 
of wonderful things you had done, I am sure.” 

“If you wish I had been born a man, I wish the three of us had. 
Wouldn’t Billy have made a splendid brigadier general, while you 
would have made a dandy lieutenant!” 

“S-s-s-s-sh-h-h! I hear the nurse coming. Scoot! Drop out of 
bed on the side nearest the wall and run under the beds until you 
are near the window,” advised Stubby. 

80 


Billy Whiskers in France 

The nurse was walking down the aisle of the ward that faced 
the window when the moon came out from under a cloud and shone 
straight into the room. And she saw not only the moon, but a big 
black cat as it jumped up on the window sill. She shut her eyes, 
looked again and again, and the cat had disappeared! 

“It must be the same cat that 
Nurse Mollie saw, and now it has 
disappeared again as completely 
as it did when she saw it. She 
got one glimpse and it was gone. 

I got another, and it faded in 
thin air. Heavens! We must be 
going to be bombarded for black 
cats bring bad luck, they say, and 
this cat has come to warn us. I’ll 
just run to the window and see if 
I can’t see it. It could not jump 
out of the window because it is 
too high from the ground, and it isn’t in this room, and cats can’t 
fly, so where is it?” 

The nurse went to the window and looked out. No tree, roof 
or shed was near enough for the cat to have jumped to them and 




Billy Whiskers in France 

then to the ground, so of course it must have been a spook cat for 
no cat was in sight. She never looked close to the building, or 
she would have seen a rope to which clung a black cat, hanging 
on desperately as it lowered itself to the ground. 


82 


CHAPTER VIII 

BILLY MAKES PLANS TO LEAVE FRANCE 

HILE Button was hanging on to the rope Billy and the 
dogs came around the hospital to look for him. 

There! I told you Button was the smartest cat you 
ever heard of, and I bet he would find a way to see 
Stubby. There he comes now, down that rope from Stubby’s win- 
dow!” said Billy. 

When nearly to the ground Button jumped from the rope and 
landed at Billy’s feet. 

“Hello, Billy and friends! How do you find yourselves? I have 
just been up to pay Stub a visit, and I accidentally frightened two 
nurses nearly to death and made them both believe they saw a 
spook cat instead of a live one.” 

“But how am I to see Stubby? That is what I want to know,” 
asked Billy. 

“I am afraid you can’t get into the hospital to see him, Billy. 
But you will probably have a fine chance to see him to-morrow. 
I heard the nurse say she was going to take all the convalescent 

83 



Billy Whiskers in France 

patients out under a tree in the yard if it was a nice day. And as 
the sun set clear, I think you will have a chance to talk to him 
to-morrow. If you cannot get near enough to him to chat, at least 
you can see him.” 

“How is his leg getting along?” 

“Oh, splendidly! He will be able to use it in a few days. They 
are taking off the splints to-morrow.” 

“That is good news indeed. Now it will be only a short time 
before we can start once again on our journey home.” 

“Our journey home!” exclaimed Button. “Who said Stubby and 
I were going with you?” 

“I did. Or rather I planned taking you both along with me. 
You don’t suppose I am going without you now I have found you 
again, do you? Not by a long way!” 

“But what if we refuse to go? You can’t carry us, one on each 
horn, can you?” 

“Yes, I could, but I don’t want you to go that way, or against your 
will. I want you to want to go. And I know perfectly well that 
I can offer enough inducements to coax you both to go with 
me.” 

“But how about deserting our regiments?” 

“You have already deserted yours in following Stubby here,” 
answered Billy. 


84 


Billy Whiskers in France 


“But I had to follow a wounded friend! Besides, they would be 
delighted to see me back.” 

“That is all well enough! But you fellows are coming back home 
with me just as soon as Stubby is able to travel. And I will 
tell you why. In the first place you both have had about 
enough of war to last you _ 
all your lives. Again the 
war will soon be 
over now the United 
States army is in 
the thick of the fight. 

And again you both have come tcT 
the conclusion that there is \ ' 

no country you would care e. 

to live in but America, and 
the United States of America part of it at that.’ 

“You are right, Billy. I was only teasing you to hear what argu- 
ments you would put up. But none of them are the real reason 
why we would leave the army now and go home. The only thing 
that would induce us to leave it before the war is over is the same 
thing that made us join it.” 

“And pray may I ask what that is?” 

“Yes. It is yourself. We left home to find you. Having found 



Billy Whiskers in France 

you, we are ready to leave everything and follow you whether you 
go home or away from home.” 

Bravo! Bravo! ’ cheered the dogs. “You and Stubby surely are 
bully friends for a goat to have. We congratulate you, Billy, on 
having such true and loyal ones.” 

Thanks, ’ bowed Billy. “Do you know the way to make and keep 
true, sincere and loyal friends? I’ll tell you. Be one yourself.” 

‘Hurrah for you, Billy! You will always have the last word.” 

“Do you mind telling me a part of your immediate plan and how 
you propose getting from here to where we are to embark? Or are 
you thinking of stealing a ride home in an airship?” asked Button. 

At this the dogs laughed. The idea of a goat, dog and cat riding 
in an airship! 

“Well, my friends, you need not laugh and think that is impossible, 
for I already have crossed the American continent from New York 
City to San Francisco in an airship,” said Billy. 

“Will you tell us what you haven’t done, Mr. Billy Whiskers?” 
asked Pinky. 

“I could not; it would take too long. Well, in the first place,” 
he continued, turning to Button, “I thought unless a better plan 
offered, I would go straight to Paris and from Paris to the seacoast 
and get on the first boat sailing for America. I had not decided on 

86 


Billy Whiskers in France 

any special port to sail from. I just left that to chance, for probably 
we would have to try many before I could sneak on board. But 
the hardest part of the trip will be from here to Paris, as we are 
known by the soldiers around here, and we run the risk of being 
carried back to the army any minute. If we leave the main high- 
way that leads to Paris, I am afraid we may lose our way and go a 
long, roundabout route and possibly we might fall into the hands 
of the Germans.’’ 

“Billy, I’ll tell you what I will do,” spoke up the Red Cross dog. 

1 11 leave going back to the army long enough to show you the way 
to Paris and across that city. You could easily find your way to 
Paris, but I doubt if you could find your way out. It is a big city, 
and the roads out are all well guarded now by soldiers who might 
recognize you, capture you and send you back. I know every step 
of the way, and we could slip out at night or swim the river Seine 
where it runs out of the city. After I had accompanied you to within 
sight of the sea I could come back. I need a vacation and the trip 
would be one for me.” 

“Thank you, my dear Duke,” for that was the name of the Red 
Cross dog. I will accept your offer. But I cannot allow you to 
carry out one part of it, and that part is to leave us and go back into 
the army. They have plenty of Red Cross dogs and police dogs, 

87 


Billy Whiskers in France 

too, so they can spare you now. As you have expressed a desire to 
see America many times, why not continue on with us and visit our 
fair land?” 

“Just the thing!” exclaimed Button. “You may never have such 
another chance to visit our country in such good company as a goat, 
dog and cat of world renown — a-hem, a-hem!” 

At this they all laughed and Pinky said, “Why, yes; why don’t 
you go, Duke? I only wish I had the chance.” 

“Well, you have!” said Billy. “I extend my invitation to all here.” 

“Oh dear! Oh dear! Much as I should love to go, I dislike the 
hardships of travel too much, and I know I should be seasick. I 
was when I crossed the Channel once to go with my mistress to visit 
some friends in London. But I should dearly love to go as far as 
Paris with you and see the surprised face of my mistress when I 
came trotting in. You know she sent me here so I would be safe 
when they began to bombard Paris with those extra long range guns. 
Besides, she said she had so much Red Cross war work to do that 
she could not take the time to look after me properly and see that 
I had my walk in the Boulevard or in the Park every day. And 
it would be unkind of me to run away to America and leave her 
when she has been so kind to me.” 

“I must go back to my mountains,” said the big St. Bernard, “ 

88 


as 


Billy Whiskers in France 

soon as I am able and help find the travelers that get lost in the 
heights and would die of starvation if it was not for me.” 

So none of them accepted Billy’s invitation to go except Pinky 
and even she was going only as far as Paris. 

“Listen! I thought I heard the sound of an automobile turning 
into the lane,” said Button. 

“You did,” said the hound. “I just saw the flash of its lamps 
through the trees.” 

Billy and the dogs talked for a while longer, and they were about 
to say good-night when they heard voices coming in their direction. 

“S-s-s-sh-h-h !” said Billy. “I thought I recognized that voice! 
It is the old General’s chauffeur. Now what can he be wanting 
here at this time of the evening? I’ll just listen and find out. No, 
I will get Button to creep up close and listen for his black coat won’t 
show in the dark like my white one would.” 

Button crept through the long grass until he was right near where 
the chauffeur and the cook stood talking. There being a tree near 
them, Button ran up it and sat on a limb listening to every word 
they spoke. 

“Well, Jean,” said the cook, “what important business have you 
on your mind this evening, or have you come to take away some 
of our convalescent patients?” 


89 


Billy Whiskers in France 


“My business is most important, and I have come straight from 
the General.” 

“Hoity-toity! You don’t say so! Whatever can it be about?” 
That blasted old Billy goat that the General sets such stores by.” 

“You don’t mean it!” said the cook. “And 
^why are you looking for him here when you took 
him away with you only two days ago? 
You don’t mean to tell me that the slippery 
old rascal has escaped from camp again?” 
“No; he did not escape from camp, be- 
cause we never succeeded in getting him 
within miles of it. We hadn’t gotten ten 
miles from here when we broke down 
and that pesky old goat escaped.” 
“Oh, you are fooling! He could 
not escape one Gen- 
eral, three officers and 
a smart chauffeur like 
youl ” 

“Oh, couldn’t he? 
You don’t know that old goat if you think that. He could escape 
a whole regiment if he wanted to.” 

“And why do you come looking for him here?” 



90 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Because we found him here and as he seemed to be having a 
pretty good time with the dogs, we thought he might come back.” 

“Oh, you did, did you? Well, you reasoned well, for he did come 
back, and I tried to catch him so I could claim the thousand dollars 
reward. You see my right arm is in a sling, don’t you? Well, it 
is all on account of trying to capture that same old goat.” 

“You don’t mean to tell me that he really is here? Divide the 
thousand dollars with me and I will help you catch him again.” 

“Never again do I monkey with that goat! I once swore I would 
not, and nothing would induce me to try it again. Would you like 
to know what he did to me and how I broke my arm?” 

“Yes, I would.” 

“Well, it happened in this way. He did come back and I thought 
I would catch him and claim the reward. One might as well try 
to catch the devil asleep as to try to catch that goat off his guard. 
Do you see those steps that lead up onto the hospital porch? And 
that cherry tree down the lane the other side of those beehives? 
Well, just imagine me, fat as I am, at the end of a rope, being jerked 
off the porch where there are no steps, pulled around the yard, down 
past the beehives, upsetting them, chased and stung by the bees, 
wrapped around that cherry tree so tight I could not move and then 
the rope pulled out of my hands so fast it blistered them while the 
goat ran on, stopped to look around, saw me stuck to the tree, and 

9i 


Billy Whiskers in France 

then he gave a baa, swished his tail and disappeared. I have not 
seen him since. I hope the bees stung him so he will remember the 
day as long as he lives, for I know I shall. Why, I could not see 
out of my eyes for two days, they were swollen so, and my ears looked 
like a jackass’s, they were so swollen out of shape. No, thank you! 
You may have all the honor of catching that goat yourself, and the 
reward that goes with it. I’ll be a goat catcher no more.” 

Button could see in his imagination just what Billy did to the 
fellow, and he laughed so to himself that he nearly fell out of the 
tree. 

If you would like to hear it, I will tell you how he escaped the 
five of us,” offered the chauffeur. Then he told the cook what you 
already know, the recital of which pleased the cook immensely, as 
misery likes company, and he was glad to know that he was not 
the only one Billy had gotten the best of. 

“I tell you what let’s do,” suggested the chauffeur. “There are 
two of us against one goat. We will lay a plan and get him. Then 
we can divide that thousand dollars between us. We won’t try to 
get him in a hurry, but we will lay a plan that can’t fail.” 

Can t fail? laughed the cook. " Any plan would fail with that 
old goat unless you killed him outright. And we don’t want to do 
that for the General’s reward is for him alive, not dead.” 

“Well, it is a pity with such a big reward in sight if we can’t get 

92 






Away went Billy, jerking the cook around trees, over stumps and beehives. 

(Page 56) 









Billy Whiskers in France 

ahead of one old goat! I’ll eat my shirt if I don’t capture him 
alive within three days after I lay eyes on him.” 

‘ You’ll eat your shirt then, young man, and I will sit by and see 
you do it if he doesn’t bung up both my eyes so I can’t see out of 
them before then.” 

Now let s plan how I shall go about it,” said the chauffeur. 
Button waited to hear no more, but ran to tell Billy that they were 
laying plans to capture him. 


93 



CHAPTER IX 

BUTTON DISCOVERS SPIES IN THE HAYMOW 

HEN Button got back where he had left Billy and the 
dogs, he found them all gone. 

“I guess Billy thought they better hide somewhere 
until I came back. I can soon find them, however, by 
running up a tall tree and looking over the place, for even in this 
twilight I can see Billy’s white coat. Yes, there is a white object 
about his size moving toward the woods. I will follow it and I 
bet it will turn out to be Billy. It is too big for a dog, and too small 
for a cow.” So Button ran after the white object and soon came 
up to Billy and the dogs. 

“There, didn’t I tell you dogs he would find us?” said Billy. 
“Button, our friends here did not want to leave until you came back. 
They were afraid you could not find us, and that you would feel 
hurt at our going off when you had gone to get information for me. 
They do not know us, do they? That we always understand one 
another and know that every move we make is for the best and our 
safety. Well, what did you find out?” 

“That the two are at this very minute plotting to capture you 

95 



Billy Whiskers in France 


so they can get the reward offered by the General,” and Button 
began to laugh. 

“What are you laughing at? Tell us,” said Pinky. 

“It is at what those two said. They have you down fine, Billy, 
and think you are a foxy old rascal with brains. So the two are 


going to lay a deep plot 
hastily so as to be sure 
chauffeur has promised to 



and are not going at it 
to catch you. The 
**^‘^*V eat his shirt if he 
^ days.” 

dark plot and keep 


they intend to catch 
'i days, for I am leav- 
teen minutes,” an- 


can’t catch you in three 
“They better lay a deep, 
it under their hats if 
me within three 
ing in about fif- 
swered Billy. I 

“Oh, Mr. Whis- hers, you don’t mean 

that! You surely don’t mean to 

leave us so soon. Besides, if I ^ am to go with you 

to Paris, I can’t possibly get ready in that time. Why, I have all the 
chickens, ducks, pigs and the other fowls and animals on the place to 
say good-by to, let alone all my friends in the hospital!” 

“Then you can’t travel with me, Miss Rosie de la France, as we 
three never know ten minutes ahead where we will be next, or what 
our next move will be. My being alive now is all due to my being 

96 


Billy Whiskers in France 

able to think and act quickly. And I must leave here before those 
two plotting my capture set eyes on me again. Now here are my 
plans. I made them while walking over here. I will go ahead to 
the outskirts of the next town. There I will wait for Stubby, Button, 
Duke and yourself, if you still feel like risking your life with us, 
and taking all the hardships that come along without a whimper or 
complaint. For it is our motto never to complain or cry over spilt 
milk. What is done is past and gone; why spoil the present and 
becloud the future by dwelling on it?” 

“Thank you, Mr. Whiskers, but I think probably I better stay 
here until my mistress comes for me. My surprising her might turn 
out not to be pleasant after all.” 

“I think you are wise in your decision, for these are troublous 
times to be running around loose without a particular friend, and 
I think you are not enough accustomed to hard knocks to travel 
with three such hardened travelers as we are.” 

“I am glad that sniffly-nosed, red-eyed little poodle is not going 
with us,” mused Button to himself. “I never could abide poodles, 
anyway, and this one seems to be a sentimental fuss-and-feathers kind 
of one.” 

“Time’s up, boys! Glad to have met you all, and hope if any 
of you ever come to America that I shall have the good luck to run 
into you and the chance of returning some of the hospitality you 

97 


Billy Whiskers in France 


have extended to me as well as that I may show you some of our 
beautiful country. Remember, Button, as soon as Stubby is able to 
travel to meet me on the outskirts of the next town. Good-by, 
good-by, kind friends!” and Billy was off. 

He had scarcely disappeared in the darkness when the dogs heard 
the chauffeur and the cook coming toward the woods. They were 
sneaking along, looking carefully under every bush and behind every 
pile of stones for Billy. 

I tell you, said the cook, “I saw him running in this direction 
after we had the mix-up with the bees.” 

“Skedaddle, all of you!” mewed Button. “Don’t let them find us 
all together.” 



hours! Oh, the dick- 
ens! In that 


“How long ago 
did you see him com- 
ing in this direc- 
i?” asked the chauf- 


three hours.” 
“Three 


feur. 


time he might 


“Oh, about 


Billy Whiskers in France 

be half way to Paris. I thought you had seen him just before I 
came.” 

“Well, he is somewhere around here, I bet.” 

“If he is, he is probably laughing inside himself at the spectacle 
we make creeping along in the dark looking for him.” 

Button went right back to the hospital and climbed up the rope 
that was still hanging from the window of Stubby’s ward. He 
thought he better go tell Stubby the latest plans while the rope was 
still there. He had very good luck indeed, and succeeded in getting 
to Stubby without being seen and in telling him what he had heard 
the men say and of Billy’s plans for them to join him as soon as he, 
Stubby, was able to use his leg. 

“Isn’t it too provoking that I have to be laid up with a broken 
leg? Why couldn’t it have been my tail or an ear that got hurt? 
Then I could have traveled.” 

“Never mind, old fellow! You will be all right in a day or two. 
In the meantime Billy can amuse himself by getting in more mis- 
chief, and I can pass the time by trying not to get into any here. 
I think I better vamoose now or some one will be coming and find 
me as I see it is about time they change the night shifts. I’ll see 
you in the garden to-morrow. Good-night and pleasant slumbers 
free from pain!” 

Just as Button was on the window sill about to jump for the rope, 

99 


Billy Whiskers in France 

the second night nurse who was to relieve the one now on duty came 
in the room, and it happened to be the one who had seen Button first 
and had been trying to argue herself into believing that she had not 
seen a big, black cat sitting on the window sill in the moonlight. On 
seeing the same cat again in the same place, she screamed and threw 
up her hands to cover her eyes. Her cry startled Button so that 
he nearly lost his hold of the rope, for he was just sticking his claws 
into it preparatory to climbing down when the nurse opened the 
door. 

When she took her hands from her eyes to look once more and 
be sure that the cat was still there, the cat had disappeared, just 
as it had done before. 

“There is something horrible going to happen to the hospital, I 
know,” she said to the other nurse, “for that is twice I have seen the 
vision of a big black cat.” 

“And I too. I also saw it this evening, just where you did, when 
I first came in to take your place. I do hope it is not the forerunner 
of a German raid or that the Germans are going to drop bombs on 
us.” 

It amused Button greatly to see how superstitious the nurses were 
about a black cat. 

“I wonder how I shall pass the time until Stubby is taken out into 
the yard to-morrow,” he thought. “I think I will go over to the 


ioo 


Billy Whiskers in France 

haymow and catch a mouse and see if French mice taste like Ameri- 
can ones.” 

He had crawled through a hole in the side of the barn and was 
quietly making his way toward where he thought the haymow would 
most likely be when he heard whispering voices. He stopped to 
listen and made out that they were speaking in German, not in French. 
And he immediately thought, “Spies, or escaped prisoners!” 

“I’ll just listen and hear what they have to say,” he decided, “but 
I’ll try to get a little closer.” 

Being black as a coal, he could not be seen easily unless the light 
struck his eyes. So he crept cautiously toward where the sound of 
the voices came from, and found it was in the haymow above his 
head. It took but a minute for Button to climb the ladder that led 
up to the mow, but as he stepped from the ladder onto the hay, 
it gave way and he fell into a hole in the hay made by one of the 
men’s legs when he had stepped off the ladder. 

“What was that noise I heard?” said one of the two voices in a 
frightened tone. 

“S-s-sh-h-h-h! Keep still and listen!” commanded the other. 

“I hope it is not that French colonel who has been on our track 
for days,” answered the other. 

Button never moved, and in fact he held his breath until the men 
began talking again. 


IOI 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“It was probably a rat you heard in the hay,” said the man who 
had spoken last. “Don’t you think it is about dark enough for us 
to get to our work and blow up this Red Cross hospital, so we can 
get back to our line before daylight?” 

So ho! thought Button. “You two think because this hospital 
has a big red cross on a white ground painted on its roof that it is 
a regular hospital for wounded soldiers instead of just one for dogs. 
And you have been sent to blow it up! Well, I’ll fix you! I’ll 
scratch your eyes out so you can’t see to blow it up.” 

Then and there Button began to act as if he had a fit. He flew 
out of the hole he had been hiding in and right for the men, whom 
he could see plainly with his cat eyes in the dark mow. Before they 
knew what was happening, he ran up one’s back, reached around 
his neck as he sat on his shoulder and scratched both his eyes out. 

How do you like the feeling? That is for scratching out the 
eyes of little Belgian children!” 

The man cried out from pain, but what cared Button? He jumped 
from this fellow’s shoulders straight into the other’s face and out 
went his eyes. 

“Now you two can sit here and repent of your sins and think how 
the little children suffered whose eyes you dug out! And the Ger- 
mans are planning to blow up this hospital, are they? Such being 
the case, I must get Stubby away from here at the earliest possible 


102 


Billy Whiskers in France 

moment. I know what I can do. I can carry him on my back, he 
is such a little fellow, and he is so thin now that I can easily do it. 
Then when we reach Billy, he can carry him and in this way, by 
taking turns, we can get him far away from here before the Germans 
raid the hospital.” 

And this is just what Button did. The very next day when Stubby’s 
nurse carried him out of the hospital and placed him on a cushion 
under a tree, with the splints off his leg, Button came along and 
told him what he had done the night before and that he feared the 
Germans would blow up or set fire to the hospital that very night. 
By first coaxing, then scolding, he at last persuaded Stubby to consent 
to ride on his back and let him take him where Billy was waiting for 
them on the outskirts of the town seven miles away. They bade all 
the dogs good-by and the Red Cross dog insisted that as he was larger 
and stronger than Button he should carry Stubby on his back part 
of the journey. “Besides,” he said, “I have a cloth bandage around 
my body with the Red Cross sewed on the front. Now this bandage 
will be an excellent thing for Stubby to stick his claws in to help 
him hold on. It will be much easier trying to do that than trying 
to stick them into your short hair, more especially as he has only 
three legs he can use.” 

And thus they started on their journey, keeping close to the road, 
but going just inside the fields and orchards that bordered either 


103 


Billy Whiskers in France 

side of the highway. They made very good progress, and the Red 
Cross dog did not feel the weight of Stubby at all. They rested a 
little after noon, and Button and the Red Cross dog left Stubby 
behind a straw stack in a barnyard while they sneaked up to the 
house to see if they could not find something to eat and to carry 
back to Stubby. 

“Bow wow!” barked a big dog, jumping out at them from his 
kennel. “Who are you that comes prowling around here? Oh, 
I beg your pardon! I did not notice you wore the badge of a Red 
Cross dog or I should not have barked, for all Red Cross dogs are 
welcome in this place and the farmer and his family will do all they 
can for you. Just go up to the house and when they see you wear 
a Red Cross badge they will give you a hot supper and a soft bed 
to sleep on if you care to stay over night. I would go up to the 
house with you, but, as you see, I am chained. They will bring some 
dinner to me and I will share it with your friend here, the black 
cat.” 

“I am sure that is very kind of you,” replied Duke, the Red Cross 
dog. “Since you say the family here is kind to Red Cross dogs, I 
will walk boldly up to the house.” 

“You will find them all I say they are, for my master used to train 
dogs to be police dogs, and he sold them to the police in Paris. Then 
when the war began he trained them for Red Cross work. But all 

104 


Billy Whiskers in France 

his dogs are sold now or gone to war. He was such a good trainer 
that he got very high prices for his dogs. I should not wonder but 
that you may have met some of the dogs trained by him if you have 
been at the front lately, as many of them are in active service there 
now.” 

“Your master’s name could not possibly be Jean Baptiste Frere, 
could it?” 

“That is just what it is!” 

“Well, well, well! I declare! That is too queer! My chum was 
trained by him and lots of the dogs I know. My chum’s name is 
Sharp Ears, or rather that is what the Red Cross people call him, 
for he seems to be able to hear things long before any one else can 
detect the slightest noise. For that reason he is kept on police duty 
with the sentinels that have to tramp up and down, up and down 
in the deep woods on guard all night. He will hear or scent an 
enemy long before he comes in sight, and he always gives warning 
by pricking up his ears and looking straight into the sentry’s face, 
but he never barks to betray the sentry to the enemy. Then he turns 
his face in the direction from which the sound comes. If it is one 
of our soldiers, he will keep perfectly still. If it is a German, 
Austrian or any of the enemy soldiers, he will give a scarcely audible 
growl. He has saved many a sentry’s life by warning him in this 
way that some one was coming.” 


105 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“How can he tell whether it is an enemy or a friend coming when 
he can’t see them?” 

“I asked him that very question, and he said he can always tell 
a German by the scent as they smell like pigs, and that he had never 
made a mistake yet.” 

“I did not know before that the German soldiers have an odor 
peculiarly their own.” 

“Nor I until he told me! Here they come with my dinner now, 
and as they don’t like cats very well, I think your friend better hide 
in my dog house. I will stand before the door so they can’t see 
inside.” 

“Hello, Towser!” called out the farmer when he saw Duke. “I 
see you have company and most distinguished company at that. 
Come here and let me see by your badge to what regiment you 
belong.” 

Duke went up to the farmer who had a very strong but kindly 
face and allowed him to read what was engraved on the tag that 
dangled from his collar. 

“Why, bless my soul! You are from the same regiment that my 
son is in and also the one that owns my best trained dog. Oh, if 
you could only talk and tell me how they are faring out on that 
battlefront! And he gave a deep sigh. So did Duke for he too 
wished he could talk and tell the farmer of some of the noble, brave 

106 


Billy Whiskers in France 

deeds his son had performed and also some of the clever, smart things 
his dog had done. 

“Come with me up to the house and I will give you a dinner that 
will make your sides stick out and ready to split/’ which he cer- 
tainly did. Duke ate and ate and still he could not see the bottom 
of his plate. There was fried chicken, with mashed potatoes and 
gravy fit for a king to eat. He ate all he possibly could for he knew 
it would be a long time before he ever was offered such a dinner 
again. But all the time he ate he kept thinking of how Stubby 
would enjoy the big chicken leg he was going to carry to him in his 
mouth when the farmer left him and he could slip away. He was 
just wondering how he was going to get away from the farmer when 
some one in the house called him to say that he was wanted on the 
telephone. 

He had not disappeared inside the door when Duke picked up the 
chicken leg and ran with it to Stubby, and as he rounded the stack 
from one side Button did from the other with a second drumstick 
in his mouth. So you see Stubby fared pretty well. 

“Those people seem to be very kind,” said Stubby, “and I guess 
it will be a good while before we meet any one their equal again.” 


107 



CHAPTER X 


BUTTON MAKES THE FARMER FIGHTING MAD 



TUBBY was nibbling on his chicken leg with Duke and 
Button nearly half asleep when they were all startled 
by the farmer coming round the straw stack unexpect- 
edly. But if they were surprised, the farmer was more 
so. To come unexpectedly upon two stray dogs and a black cat and 
one of those dogs the Red Cross dog he had just been feeding was 
enough to surprise any one. 

“Well, well, well! Where did you all come from, I should like 
to know? And if here isn’t another Red Cross dog! But no, I am 
mistaken. You are a cat, but a cat with a regimental tag around 
your neck. Come here, little dog, and let me read what your tag 
says,” but when Stubby got up and tried to limp to him, the farmer 
saw that his leg was hurt, so he went to him and taking him in his 
arms, he felt of the injured leg and found it had been broken. As 
he had set many broken legs for dogs, he knew what to do for 
Stubby and he said, “You two follow me. I am going to take this 
little dog to my office and rub his leg with some strengthening 
liniment I have which will make it heal quicker. And I am also 

109 



Billy Whiskers in France 

going to give him a tonic to brace him up for I see he is very thin 
and weak.” 

Stubby licked the farmer’s hand to show how he appreciated 
all this kindness. 

When they reached the office; the farmer put his glasses on and 
read the tags on all their necks, and when he got through he called 
to his wife to come quickly, that he had made a wonderful discovery. 
“Just you read that, wife,” he said, after he had read Stubby’s tag 
once again. This cat and dog are the long lost and much adver- 
tised mascots of two American regiments, which are offering large 
sums for their recovery. Bless me but this is lucky! For I was 
just needing some extra money to repair the roof of the house and 
to fix up the place.” 

“And I too. I need a new dress and bonnet badly,” said his wife. 

“We’ll just fix them comfortably here in the office for to-night, 
so there will be no danger of them getting away while I am making 
arrangements for returning them to their own regiments and collect- 
ing the reward money. A thousand dollars for each! To think 
that that cat is the celebrated black cat from the Black Cat Regiment, 
and the dog the yellow dog from the regiment called after him, the 
Yellow Dog Regiment!” 

The two dogs and Button looked at one another and either winked 
or rolled their eyes to let the others know that they were in a pretty 


no 


Billy Whiskers in France 

fix and in danger of being carried back to the army. Then they 
all thought of Billy waiting on the outskirts of the town for them 
to come. 

“One thing,” thought Button, “he won’t wait long. If we don’t 
come along on the third day, he will come back to look for us for 
he will know that trouble has detained us. A day’s rest here with 
the excellent care the farmer is going to give Stubby and plenty 
of good food for us all will help us along on our journey more than 
anything else would, as we are all run down, first from our hard 
work in the front and then from our wounds.” 

Presently the farmer and his wife had them all fixed comfortably 
for the night, with Stubby on a nice soft sofa, and Duke and Button 
on old shawls and blankets in one of the corners of the room, and 
a dish of water for them to drink should they grow thirsty. As 
soon as the farmer and his wife left them alone they talked over 
their predicament, but all agreed it was for the best and soon they 
all fell asleep. 

For two days they stayed with the farmer and each morning and 
evening he rubbed Stubby’s leg and gave him a tonic. He fed Duke 
and Button up fine too until they were so fat they could scarcely run. 
All day long all they did was to eat and sleep, “getting in condition to 
travel fast,” said Button. 

The third day the farmer became very much excited when he 


in 


Billy Whiskers in France 

read the mail for in it were two letters for him from the colonels 
of the regiments of which Stubby and Button were the mascots. 
They stated that they would give the reward to the person who 
delivered the dog and cat to them unhurt and in perfect health. 

“This certainly is fine news, wife, and you better go along with 
me so you can pick out your new dress and bonnet while we are in 
town, for their headquarters, where I am to deliver the dog and 
cat, are in a large town where there are plenty of big stores. We 
will start early to-morrow morning, about daylight, as it is a long 
ways and we want to reach these headquarters before noon so as 
to get our money and have the whole afternoon to shop.” 

Stubby heard all this as he lay on his end of the sofa pretending 
to be asleep. The minute the farmer and his wife left the room, 
he to get the automobile in shape for the trip in the morning, and 
his wife to lay out her best clothes, Stubby barked for Button and 
Duke to come in to share the news he had just heard. 

They both listened without interrupting until Stubby had finished, 
then Button said: 

“It is a good thing your leg has healed so you can walk on it and 
that you are feeling so strong and well, for if they mean to take us 
to headquarters to-morrow morning, we must manage to escape 
some time to-night.” 

“You are right,” replied Duke. “But why wait until night? It 


1 1 2 


Billy Whiskers in France 

would be easier to escape some time this afternoon before we are 
shut in for the night. The farmer never seems to think we will try 
to run away until dark as he leaves us pretty much alone all day 
but at the first hint of darkness he shuts us in.” 

‘That is all true. So let us wait and get a good dinner and then 
when he lies down to take his twenty winks of sleep, as he does 
every afternoon, we will skedaddle. His wife will be so busy getting 
her finery ready to wear to-morrow that she won’t have time even 
to look out of the window.” 

And so it was planned for them to push on to where Billy waited 
for them. 

It is a good thing that they decided to go when they did for 
Billy was getting terribly restless waiting for them, and was likely 
to get in mischief if they did not arrive sOon. 

The three simply stuffed themselves at dinner time. And as they 
were finishing, Button said, “Isn’t it too bad we haven’t pockets in 
our skins so we could take some of this fine food along with us to eat 
when we can’t find anything along the roadside?” 

“It surely is,” said Stubby, “and I don’t see why we could not 
have had our tails so constructed that we could have hung packages 
on them like the opossums carry their young, hanging over their 
mother’s tail with all their little tails curled around hers to hold 
them on.” 


n 3 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“You two do think of the most outlandish things I ever heard of,” 
said Duke. “Any one could tell you were from the United States 
of America. You are so clever and original. Now a European 
would be too staid and too conventional to think of a thing like 
that.” 

While they were talking, not one of them had taken his eyes off 
the farmer who had been lying on the sofa to take his nap. But 
to-day he was slower than ever in dropping off to sleep, due, I suppose, 
to the excitement of the reward he was thinking of getting. But 
presently habit was too much for him and he fell fast asleep. At 
the first snore he made the three chums crept out of the office and 
sneaked away toward the garden. One by one they squeezed them- 
selves through a hole under the fence and came out in the garden, 
right under the noses of the farmer’s wife and son who were picking 
raspberries. 

“Why, what are you doing here? Trying to escape us?” and 
with that the woman stooped and grabbed Stubby up in her arms 
while her son grasped Duke, but Button escaped them. 

You naughty, naughty dogs and cat to try to run away from us 
when we have been so good to you!” Then she turned to her son 
and said, “I think they heard your father and me talking of taking 
them back to the army and probably they don’t want to go back, 
and that is why they were trying to run away.” 

n 4 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Bet you that is it!” replied the son. “They are so smart they 
can understand every word that is said.” 

“I told your father not to trust them out alone, but he said he 
was feeding them so well that they would not try to run away. It 
is a good thing that I decided to pick those raspberries to take to 
your Aunt to-morrow, or we would not have caught them. And 
then I hate to think of how it would have affected your father.” 

When they reached the office, the farmer was still asleep and from 
the smile on his face he was probably dreaming he was buying things 
with the reward money. Just as they opened the door he called 
out, “Thieves! Thieves!” and jumped up from the sofa. He was 
dreaming that some thieves had stolen his pocketbook. “Why, what 
are you doing here with the dogs in your arms? They haven’t been 
hurt, have they?” he asked at last. 

“No; worse than that. We caught them trying to run away,” 
said his wife. 

“You don’t say so! That would have been a calamity.” 

And then his wife explained to him how she and her son had 
caught Stubby and Duke. 

“But the worst of it is that black cat is still loose. Still I don’t 
think he will run away and leave the two dogs behind.” 

“Neither do I, but we won’t take any chances. Come and see 
if we can’t catch him. We’ll lock the two dogs in and then see 

US 


Billy Whiskers in France 

if the three of us can’t catch the cat. Where did you leave 
him?” 

“Up a tree beside the garden gate.” 

“I’ll S et a nice piece of meat and see if I can’t coax him down,” 
said the farmer. So while he went for the meat his wife and his 
son went to the tree where they had left Button. But alas! alack! 
when they got there he was gone and nowhere in sight though they 
searched everywhere for him and called, “Kitty! Kitty! Kitty! Pussy! 
Pussy! Pussy!” 

The farmer was nearly crazy to think that with the cat gone he 
would lose half of the reward he had been counting on so much. 

We must find him, I tell you!” and he began to scold his wife 
and son as if it was their fault that the cat was gone. At last his 
wife grew angry and said : 

Shut up! I have heard enough of your complaining. If it had 
not been for me, they both would have been gone for good. Why, 

I told you to keep them under lock and key; that they were too 
valuable to let run loose. But you go accusing us of losing them, 
while you sleep and let them sneak off. Don’t you suppose I want 
a new dress and bonnet with that reward money as much as you 
want to spend it on fixing up the place?” 

This was good logic, so the farmer stopped his scolding. In the 
first place he knew it was not her fault but like some men he tried 

116 


Billy Whiskers in France 


to lay everything that went wrong on some one else. Whoever hap- 
pened to be near at the time usually got the scolding. 

“Gee, how I hate a man who lays everything that goes wrong on 
his wife!” said Duke. 

Button had hid under some currant bushes and was having great 
fun watching them hunt 
for him. When supper 
time came they put his sup- 
per outside the kitchen 
door on a plate but left 
the door part way open, so 
they could open it quickly 
and grab him if he came 
to eat the food. But they waited in vain, for 
Button had seen the crack and knew what it meant. 

“I am not very hungry, and I can wait for my supper until you 
go to sleep. You will have to go to bed,” he thought. 

At last the farmer could stand waiting no longer. He wanted 
to find that cat and lock him up so he could go to bed and be ready 
for an early start to headquarters in the morning. With no cat, 
there would be no use in going. 

“I have it!” he at last exclaimed to his wife. “I’ll go unchain 
Towser and get him to smell out the cat for me. That dog is a 

117 



Billy Whiskers in France 

crackajack for finding cats. He hates them so— or most of them. 
This cat is the only one I ever saw him make friends with.” 

So Towser was unchained and set to looking for Button. He 
ran around and around, smelling everywhere and he barked up the 
tree that Button had climbed. But still he had not found the missing 
cat. At last he got the scent, but just before he got to him Button 
shot out from under the bushes and ran up a tree. 

He has found him, found him!” called the farmer to his wife. 
The farmer had been close on Towser’s heels all the time, a bag in 
his hand. He had intended to put the cat in it when Towser caught 
him by the nape of his neck as he did most cats. But Button was 
too quick for them. He was up a tree before they could wink. 
The next thing was to get him down. The farmer, his wife and 
son coaxed and coaxed Button to come down but he just sat on 
a limb and blinked at them. 

“Climb the tree and see if you can’t catch him,” said the farmer 
to his son. 

This the boy did, and Button let him come within reaching distance 
of him. Then he climbed a little higher up the tree. This kept 
on until he was away up in the topmost branches, and away out on 
a limb so thin that it would not bear the weight of the boy. When 
he saw this he took hold of the limb and tried to shake Button off 
by swinging the limb backwards and forwards with all his might. 

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One thing Billy butted was a basket full of clothes. 


(Page 67) 



Billy Whiskers in France 

But he might just as well have tried to dislodge the bark itself as 
Button. He simply stuck his sharp claws down deeper into the tree 
and enjoyed the swinging of the branch. 

‘‘Come down, Pierre!” called his mother. “We will try smoking 
him out.” 

Pierre climbed down and they all busily set about building a big 
smudge fire under the tree. As it was a still evening, with no wind, 
the smoke rose straight in the air to where Button sat, but by shutting 
his eyes he did not mind it much and he sat on. The smoke made 
the farmer, his wife and son sneeze and cough and their eyes smart 
and water. That was all the good their fire did, for when the fire 
at last died out and the smoke had cleared away, they looked up 
in the tree and there sat Button as composedly as ever. 

“Darn that cat!” exclaimed the farmer. 

“Father, you must not swear, and before our son at that.” 

“I can’t help it, for I am so mad at that cat I could kill him. And 
if he doesn’t come down pretty soon, I’ll shoot him and take his 
hide to headquarters.” 

“That would do no good, for they say in their letter the reward 
will only be given if the dog and cat are alive and well,” replied 
his wife. 

“Well, what next can we do to get him down? I am at the end 
of my string of suggestions.” 


Billy Whiskers in France 

The three sat down under the tree, their heads on their hands 
and elbows on knees, to try to think of some way to capture Button. 
After sitting there for about ten minutes, the son exclaimed, “I have 
it! I know how we can get him down and not hurt him in the 
least.” 

“Let’s hear your plan, quick!” said the father. 

1 11 go up and saw off the limb he is sitting on, while you and 
mother hold a net under the limb. Then when it falls, the cat and 
limb will fall in the net and the cat won’t be hurt.” 

“An excellent idea, my son,” commended his mother. 

“But where are we going to get the net?” asked his father. 

“We can use my tennis net.” 

“Run and get it while I go for a saw and, mother, you stay here 
to keep him from escaping while we are away,” said the father. 

Presently the father and son were back with the saw and the net. 
The boy climbed the tree, while the father and mother stood under 
the limb, waiting to catch Button when the limb should be sawed 
off. Button never stirred while the boy sawed the limb, for he had 
made up his mind what he was going to do when the limb fell into 
the net. This it did in about two minutes. The branch had scarcely 
touched the net when Button with a bound ran up the side of the 
net, jumped to the ground and ran up the next tree. And could 
you have looked into the faces of those three people, you would 


120 


Billy Whiskers in France 


have said you never had looked into three more disappointed ones 
in your life. 

“That cat is possessed of the devil!” said the father. 

“I truly believe he is!” said the mother. 

“Well, gosh darn his ^ 
skin, I say!” ex- 
claimed their son. 

“I have another 
idea,” said the father. 

“You go get your fish 
net and then you 
can climb the tree 
he is now in, and 
throw it over his 
head, and we will have 
him.” 

The boy went after 
his round net on a long pole, 
climbed the tree and threw it over Button’s head, but just as it came 
down Button gave a leap for the next tree which was six feet away 
and lit on a limb as nicely as if he had been a flying squirrel and used 
to jumping from tree to tree all his life. 

“Well, that cat surely beats the devil ! He can stay in that tree 



121 



Billy Whiskers in France 

for all of me! I shan’t try to catch him any more. But I’ll just 
go and get some sleep, and in the morning we will go to town and 
get the reward for the little dog and say nothing about ever having 
seen the cat. Then when we come back, if he is still seen around 
the premises we will try some other plans to capture him.” 

When they had all three gone to bed, Button came down out of 
the tree and ate the supper they had put out for him early in the 
evening. After finishing it he went over to the office and jumping 
up on the window sill he talked to Stubby and Duke through the 
window and told them how he had been having some fun with the 
family. 

“Don’t worry, boys! You will be able to give him the slip as 
he takes you to town. And if you don’t, you can get away in a few 
days. I will go on and tell Billy what has happened and then the 
two of us will come back and help you escape.” 


122 


CHAPTER XI 


THE CHUMS ON A CANAL BOAT 

O need to go for Billy or to tell him what has happened,” 
said a voice behind Button, “for I have heard it all.” 
Turning around, Button saw Billy standing under the 
window. 

“Billy!” the three exclaimed in one breath. “Where did you 
come from?” 

“The town where I was to meet you. I waited and waited and 
at last made up my mind that something must have happened to you, 
so I went back to the hospital, or at least I got nearly there last 
night when I saw ten or fifteen aeroplanes circling over the hospital. 
I made out that half were German planes and half American. The 
Germans evidently were trying to blow up the hospital by dropping 
bombs on it, and the Americans were trying to fight them off. As 
I looked, I heard a terrible explosion and by the light of the fire 
that followed I saw a big building go up in smoke and flames, and 
as I watched I saw distinctly two human figures outlined on the sky, 
flying up in the air with the debris. But when the smoke cleared 
away, I saw that the hospital still stood there and that it was the 

123 



Billy Whiskers in France 

big barn they had blown up. So the two figures I saw must have 
been those of the two spies who were going to try to bomb the 
hospital— those whose eyes you scratched out, Button. So you see 
they got their just deserts and were blown up themselves just as they 
had planned to blow up others. I was so thankful to see that it 
was the barn instead of the hospital that I ran straight on regardless 
of bombs dropping all around me. All I thought of was to see 
if Stubby was still in the hospital, and trying to save him, but before 
I reached there the American aeroplanes had driven off the Ger- 
mans, and I saw three of their machines lying in wrecks on the 
ground, the work of the Americans. 

“I went on to the hospital, and ran straight to Stubby’s ward 
to see if he was there, well knowing that in the confusion nobody 
would molest me. I passed the cook on the stairs and he was so 
excited and scared he did not pay the slightest attention to me. 
When I reached your ward, Stubby, I found your bed empty so 
took it for granted that you had started to meet me and that I had 
missed you somewhere on the road. So I started back, stopping 
at every farm I passed to look the place over to see if I could hear 
or see anything of any of you. A rooster at the next farm told me 
he had seen two dogs and a black cat pass their place at sunrise 
five days ago. Then I knew that you were either prisoners some- 
where or I had passed you on your way to meet me. Now tell me 


124 


Billy Whiskers in France 


how it happens that you two dogs are locked in and Button still 
running outside.” 

Between them they told Billy all that had happened since he 
left them, ending by relating how they were to; 
be carried to headquarters early 
the next morning. ** * 



“Well, I guess not! Not 
if my name is Billy .i.jj 

Whiskers will you two r • F 
stay prisoners another 


minute. I’ll just hook 
the glass out of this window ,/ . 
and you two can crawl x ^ 
out and then we will make , 
a merry chase for the next \ 


village.” 

Billy did this, and as they 
passed the house, the soft- 


hearted Stubby said to the farm- ^ 

er and his wife, “I am sorry to make you lose your reward for my 
capture, as you have been very good to all of us. But even for you 
I can’t be a prisoner just so you can get some money by delivering 
me to headquarters. So au revoir, old friends!” 


125 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Good-by,” meowed Button. “And may you have better luck the 
next time you try to catch a black cat! Had you only remembered 
that black cats are said to bring bad luck, you would not have 
wasted so much valuable time in trying to capture me.” 

And many, many thanks for the good meals you gave us,” barked 
Duke. Then the four passed on into the darkness and were lost 
to the farmer forever. 

“I think the best thing we can do,” said Billy, “is to push on to 
Paris just as fast as we can, and that won’t be very rapidly, as we shall 
have to travel by night most of the time and lie hidden in the day- 
time, since there are so many looking for us who are sparing no 
expense in advertising and searching for us. We are like regular 
escaped prisoners with a price on our heads.” 

“The nearer we get to Paris,” said Duke, “the harder it will 
be to keep hidden, for the country is very thickly populated for 
miles and miles outside the city. But an idea just flashed across 
my mind that, if carried out, would get us inside Paris without 
much trouble.” 

“What is it?” asked Billy. 

“It is this: that we enter Paris by boat instead of on foot.” 

“And how can we do that?” inquired Stubby 

“I’ll tell you. We will go to the banks of the river Seine, about 
five miles out of Paris, and try to get on one of the flat canal boats 

126 


Billy Whiskers in France 

that run right into the heart of the city, and we might be lucky 
enough to get on a boat that would pass right through Paris and 
continue on to the sea, where we could embark for America, as the 
river empties into the sea at a very large shipping port called the 
city of Havre. From this port there are big merchant ships sailing 
to all parts of the world, and we would get on one bound for America. 
If we could only accomplish this it would save us all that long, tire- 
some walk of about one hundred and twenty-five miles.” 

Gee! exclaimed Button. “Your plans sound good to me! Sav- 
ing a hundred and twenty-five mile walk, dodging people, bad boys 
and troublesome dogs, is worth trying.” 

“I should think it did sound good!” said Billy, “and I feel quite 
sure we can carry it out, for Stubby, Button and I have had lots 
of experience sneaking on ocean-going vessels, steamers, and so on. 
We have stolen on board a vessel going from Japan to America, 
and on still another sailing from Boston for Constantinople, and 
another plying up and down the Mississippi River, with others too 
numerous to mention. So I guess we can manage to get aboard a 
slow going canal boat.” 

“Of course we can!” said Stubby. “I feel like thanking you for 
thinking of such a plan. It is such a good one for us all but more 
especially for me with my lame leg.” 

“About how far do you think we are from Paris now?” 

127 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“I should say fully twenty-five miles. But only about seven from 
the river if we take a straight line to the east until we come to it.” 

“Then me for the straight line to the river!” declared Billy. 

“Same here!” said Button. 

“And I follow wherever you lead,” avowed Stubby. 

The four made such good time that by daybreak they were in 
sight of the river, catching their first glimpse of it from the top 
of a high hill. 

And joy! they saw straight ahead of them a small town at whose 
dock lay a long white-and-green boat with a flat top. It was so 
early in the morning that no one was astir in the town when they 
reached it, so they were not molested as they ran through it straight 
for the boat. When they came close to the dock they proceeded 
more cautiously and hid behind boxes and barrels until they could 
find out what kind of people were on the boat. But no one appear- 
ing and the dock being deserted at this time of the morning, they de- 
cided to chance finding nice people on board, and crept on deck. 
This they did easily as the owner had neglected to pull in his gang- 
plank before he went to bed. 

“It looks as if our good angel was with us and it was intended 
we were to make this trip in this way,” remarked Stubby. 

“Now we must all secrete ourselves and keep hid until the boat 
is loaded and pushed off shore. Then they will have to take us 

128 


Billy Whiskers in France 

with them until they reach the next stopping place, and if the worst 
comes to the worst we can jump overboard and swim, for it is not 
far to shore and the boat is not high above the water line.” 

Billy secreted himself behind a pile of bags filled with hops, 
while Stubby and Button climbed on top of them and hid them- 
selves between two of the top bags, and Duke squeezed himself 
under them in a hole made by two of the bags which had not been 
packed closely. So by the time the sun was well up and the people 
began to arise, they were all stowed away as comfortably as could 
be. 

The first person on deck proved to be a big, comfortable looking 
fat man, followed by his grandson, a little fellow with curly, flaxen 
hair and big, blue eyes, whom it was easy to see the grandfather 
fairly worshiped. 

Then three men came up from below and began fussing around 
on deck. About this time the delicious odor of boiling coffee, fried 
potatoes and bacon was wafted up the hatchway. 

“Gee! The fumes from that cooking make me hungry as a bear!” 
said Button. 

“Me too!” agreed Stubby. 

“And it reminds me that none of us has had a bite to eat for hours. 
We were so busy getting away from our pursuers that we forgot 
to stop to look for something to eat,” said Duke. 


129 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“That may smell good to you fellows, but that white clover beside 
the dock, with the dew still on it, smells better to me. And when 
they go in to breakfast, if they still keep that gangplank out, I am 
going to come out of this hiding place, skip ashore and eat a mouth- 
ful or two before any of the people on board are through their meal 
and come up on deck again,” said Billy. 

“You are lucky that you can live on grass and green things,” re- 
plied Duke. “I wish I could.” 

‘That is the only trouble dogs and cats have when traveling,” 
said Stubby; “this matter of food. One has to steal it, or eat it raw, 
and run the risk of being clubbed or stoned unless he falls in with 
some one who is kind to animals and doesn’t think it is too much 
trouble to feed and water them.” 

“Most people seem to forget that animals have to eat and drink 
the same as human beings. They know better, but they just do not 
think,” said Button. 

Billy did as he had planned and slipped off the boat and made 
a hearty breakfast of clover and took a good drink of water out of 
the river. Then he was fixed for the day if need be. 

“Mew! Mew! Mew!” 

“Hark! I hear a cat mewing!” whispered Button to Stubby who 
were close together upon the pile of hops. 


130 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“I see her,” said Stubby. “It is only a little kitten. Sh-sh-sh! 
Here comes a woman up from below with a plate of food for the 
kitten.” 

“Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!” called the woman, looking around for the 
cat and paying no attention to the mewing kitten at her feet. 

“Evidently she is looking for the mother of the kitten,” whispered 
Button. 

As they watched, they saw a big yellow cat jump out from a pile 
of rope up near the prow of the boat and walk lazily toward her. 
A black and white spotted cat also came running from the opposite 
side of the deck. 

“They seem to have a whole family on board,” remarked Stubby. 

When the woman saw them coming, she set down a heaping plate 
of food for them and said, “Well, lazybones,” addressing the yellow 
cat, “did you catch that big wharf rat I saw run on board last night? 
If you did not, you better hustle and get him if you want any more 
to eat from me. I am not going to feed you anything until that 
rat is killed. Do you hear me? Old Mouser has been doing all 
the work lately in catching the rats and mice, and it is time you did 
something, for we want no free lazy passengers on this boat. 
Baby,” addressing the kitten, “stop crying and mewing around my 
heels. If you are hungry, eat something on the plate. Oh, I forgot, 

131 


Billy Whiskers in France 

you are too young to care for meat and potatoes. Come with me 
and I will get you some milk to drink,” and she picked up the kitten 
and went below. 

The cats were evidently not very hungry, for they scarcely touched 
the food on the plate, but walked off and left it, the spotted cat 
going down the hatchway and the yellow cat back to the pile of 
rope up front. 



“Now is our chance, Stubby,” whispered Button, “before any one 
comes up from breakfast!” 

The two of them climbed down from the hops and made a good 
meal of what the cats had left, as the woman had brought up a plate 
heaping full. 

“Tell you what, that tasted good!” said Button. 

“Indeed it did!” replied Stubby. “I did not know I was so hun- 
gry. But I was as thirsty as the very dickens. I hate to chance 

132 


Billy Whiskers in France 

going off the boat for a drink, but I’ve simply got to have water. 
I think I can chance it to run off and lap a few mouthsful before 
they come up and pull in the gangplank. I am going to try it any- 
way. Are you coming?” 

“No; cats drink very little water, and I do not feel the least bit 
thirsty now.” 

Stubby succeeded in getting his drink and was safely back on board 
before any one appeared. But he did not have a minute to spare 
as his short, stubby tail only just disappeared out of sight when all 
the men, including the Captain, came on deck. Then the Captain 
bawled out in his big voice for them to heave in the gangplank and 
cut loose. In less than fifteen minutes the old boat was out in the 
middle of the river, floating down toward Paris on the swift moving 
current. 

“Gee, it seems good to be in a safe place once more,” said Billy, 
“where one can sleep without keeping one eye open for fear of cap- 
ture or of being blown sky high by a carelessly dropped German 
bomb. I am just going to sleep and sleep and sleep while on this 
trip and get good and rested.” 

“And I am going to do the same,” replied Duke. 


133 



CHAPTER XII 


BUTTON HAS A FIGHT WITH A WHARF RAT 

LL day long the four of them kept hidden. At noon 
Stubby, Duke and Button ate what the cats left, and Billy 
ran ashore and ate a little grass by the river bank, where 
the boat had tied up for noon. 

The Captain and his crew seemed in no hurry to get to Paris or 
anywhere else, for that matter. All they seemed to do was to eat, 
sleep, tell stories and smoke. 

It was getting to be about half past nine, and the dogs and Button 
were growing hungry for their supper which they could see on the 
plate by the gangway, but could not go to get it as the sailors were 
still lounging on deck talking and smoking. 

“Will they never stop their silly talk and go to bed?” sighed Button. 

He could not hear a word of what they said, but he called it silly 
because he was so cross at them for not going to bed. And as they 
talked, a big black wharf rat sneaked up behind them and began to 
help himself to the meat on the plate. It was too much for the 
hungry Button to lie there and see his supper or what he con- 
sidered his, eaten up before his eyes by a nasty old rat. Forgetting 

135 



Billy Whiskers in France 

that he might be caught by the sailors, he sneaked off the pile of 
hops and crept to within jumping distance of the rat. Then with one 
long flying leap, he landed on the rat’s back and buried his teeth in 
his neck and his claws in his sides. It was a powerful rat, as I said 
before, and gave fight. Soon the two of them were rolling around 
on the deck, with first one on top and then the other. The scuffle 
they made added to the squeal of the rat brought all the sailors to 
their feet and there they stood watching the fight and wondering 
where the big black cat came from. 

All of a sudden the rat let go of Button’s ear and buried its teeth in 
his neck, causing the blood to flow freely. On seeing this Stubby 
forgot all caution and came running to Button’s assistance. 

“Holy Moses! And where did this dog come from?” asked the 
Captain. “He must have dropped from the sky.” 

Stubby tried to grab the rat by the back of its neck as it clung to 
Button’s throat, but he could not as they kept rolling over and over 
each other so that first one was on top and then the other. At last in 
trying to stoop and get a grip he turned his broken leg the wrong way 
and the pain was so intense that he fainted dead away and the sailors 
thought he was dead. So did Duke, who was watching the struggle 
from the top of the hop pile with Billy. When they saw Stubby roll 
over and stretch out they both bounded off the hops and appeared on 
the scene. 


136 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Jumping Jupiter! What have we here? A menagerie?” ex- 
claimed the Captain. The sailors all stared at Duke and Billy as if 
an elephant had appeared in their midst, while from the other end of 
the boat came the yellow cat and Mouser. And still the fight went 
on, with the Cap- 
tain, three sailors, 
two cats, one 
dog and a g o a t 
watching, all hav- 
ing formed a ring 
around the fighters. 

Billy saw that 
Button was grow- 
ing weak from 
loss of blood and — '"F- 
though he did not wish to int 
fere in Button’s fight, still 
felt it best under the circumstances to do so. So he watched his 
chance and ran one long horn right through the rat, killing him in- 
stantly. Then with the rat still sticking to his horns, he walked to 
the side of the boat and scraped it off, and it fell into the water. 

This was such a smart thing for a goat to do that the Captain 
clapped his hands and cried, “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!” in which 

T 37 



Billy Whiskers in France 

all the sailors joined him. Their clapping and cheering brought the 
Captain’s wife on deck to see what all the commotion was about, 
and when she saw the strange animals on board, she said, 

“When did you buy this menagerie? I never laid eyes on them 
before.” 

“Nor any of us,” answered the Captain, “until two or three minutes 
ago,” and he related to her what had taken place. 

“This fight never would have happened if that lazy yellow cat of 
ours had done his duty and caught that rat.” 

“But if he had, none of us would ever have witnessed the most 
desperate bloody battle any of us ever saw between a cat and a rat.” 

“I wonder to whom these animals belong and when they came on 
board,” mused the Captain’s wife. 

“They must have come on board the night we forgot and left the 
gangplank out,” said the Captain. 

“That is just when it must have happened,” agreed the sailors. 

“They probably belong to some one person as they are all to- 
gether, and I should judge from their appearance that they are very 
valuable. See,” said the Captain’s wife, “they all have medals 
around their necks, and one dog wears a Red Cross badge sewed on 
his body.” 

The Captain stooped down in front of Billy and began to read what 
was on his badge. 


Billy Whiskers in France 

Wife, come here! Come here!” he called in excited tones. 
“What do you think I find engraved on this badge? This goat is 
the celebrated Billy Whiskers, the Mascot of the — th New York 
Regiment!” 

“You don’t mean it? Not the goat that the big reward is offered 
for? You don’t mean that, do you?” 

“Yes, I do! The very same!” 

“And this little dog and the black cat are mascots, too, other regi- 
ments offering a big reward for their return. I read about these 
very animals in one of the Paris papers this morning. I’ll go get the 
paper and read it to you,” she said. 

In a jiffy she disappeared inside the boat but came out again, 
waving the paper. “Here it is! Now listen while I read to you all 
what it says : 

LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN 

One large white goat, belonging to the — th Regiment of New 
York 

One small yellow dog, belonging to the — th Regiment of Penn- 
sylvania 

One big black cat, belonging to the — th Regiment of Illinois. 

Any person or persons returning the same to their respective 
Headquarters will receive $1,000 reward for each animal alive and 
well. 

She jumped up and went springing and dancing around the deck. 
“Here we have all three of them right here on our boat! Ho 

139 


Billy Whiskers in France 

for the reward ! I see where we get it when we return from this trip. 
We will take the best of care of them, but keep them hidden from 
others until our return trip. Then we will take them to Head- 
quarters and claim the reward.” 

“Well, you won’t get any reward for either the cat or the dog if 
you don’t fix up the wounds where that rat bit them, for they are 
losing so much blood it will kill them,” said the Captain. 

“Here, some of you give me a hand and help me dress their 
wounds, said the Captain’s wife, who was as good as any trained 
nurse when it came to dressing wounds and looking after the sick. 
“I’ll g° ahead and get warm water, witch hazel and bandages ready, 
while you carry them down to my stateroom and lay them on the 
bunk.” 

When Stubby came out of his fainting spell, he found himself 
lying on a bunk beside Button, who had a bandage wrapped around 
his neck, and smelling strong of witch hazel, besides having several 
crosses of adhesive plaster on his sides and on the tip of his nose. 

“How did we get here and what has happened to us?” he asked. 

“What a fool thing for me to faint just when you needed me 
most!” said Stubby. 

“How did you happen to do it?” asked Button. 

“I turned my broken leg the wrong way, and over I went.” 

“But who helped you in the end? Did some of those men come 


140 


Billy Whiskers in France 


to your rescue? I should think they would have helped you before 
and not stood there and see that monster rat biting you with its 
poisonous teeth.” 

“No, Billy came to my help as usual. He forgot he was in hiding 
and jumped in and ran his horn straight through the rat, which 
made it let go 


my throat, as he 
had killed it in- 
stantly. I never 
met such a big rat 
before or one 
with such long, 
sharp teeth. 

When it cried, 
its voice sounded 
like a baby’s. I 
shall be all right 
soon as the Captain’s wife has fixed me up fine so the poison from the 
rat’s teeth won’t hurt me. As it turned out, this fight was the best 
thing that could have happened, for since they read our medals, every 
one is as keen on keeping us on board as we are in staying. They 
have found out who we are, and are now looking out for the reward. 
But they intend to take us along with them to the coast and on their 

141 



Billy Whiskers in France 

return will hand us over to our respective regiments and claim the 
money.” 

“How did they know there is a reward offered for us?” 

“Why, the Captain’s wife had just finished reading about us in one 
of the Paris papers.” 

“We certainly are in luck! Here we shall have the best of care and 
get clear through to Havre without walking one step. And when 
there we can give them the slip as we did the farmer and his wife.” 

“I know; but it does seem a shame that we always have to run off 
and appear so ungrateful to our kind friends, doesn’t it?” said 
Stubby. 

“Yes, it does; but it really can’t be helped,” replied Button. 
“Where are Billy and Duke now?” 

“Oh, they are having the time of their lives being petted and fed 
by all on board. You see we will fare like princes for the rest of 
our journey.” 

Button was right. Nothing was too good for them and the way 
they were fed, watered, combed and brushed would have satisfied a 
king. 

“My, don’t they all look fat, sleek and shiny!” said the Captain’s 
wife after they had bathed and curried all four of them. She 
had taken off the dirty bandage that was around Duke’s body and put 
on a nice clean white one with a lovely Red Cross embroidered on it. 


142 


CHAPTER XIII 

A DOG CEMETERY IN PARIS 

HE rest of the journey to Paris was quite uneventful. 
They arrived there one evening just as the sun was set- 
ting behind the city, throwing the Eiffel Tower and 
the big square dome of Notre Dame in bold relief 
against the deep red sky. 

Just on the outskirts of the city they came to an island on which 
was a good-sized cemetery. 

“What a nice place for a cemetery!” exclaimed Stubby. 

“There seem to be a good many people buried there from all the 
monuments I can count,” said Billy. 

“You may count the monuments and walk or drive down the 
broad paved roads and walks but you will never pass one grave 
where a human being is buried,” said Duke. 

“You are joking!” said Button. “What do you mean? That 
there is no one buried there now and that all the bodies have been 
removed? Bet I hear men chiseling monuments at this minute 
and soon can see them at work in their shops.” 



143 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“True again. But for all that there is not a human being buried 
there, for it is a dog cemetery where only pet dogs are buried.” 

“Well, wouldn’t that beat the Dutch!” exclaimed Billy. “A 
regular cemetery with flowers on the graves and flower-bordered 
walks and fenced-in lots and monuments just like people have! It 
certainly does take the French to think of odd things!” 

“Why shouldn’t pet dogs have a nice resting place?” inquired 
Duke. “They are man’s companions and guard and watch over him 
as if they were human. Yes, and they are more faithful than the 
dearest human friends, for they stick when adversity overtakes one, 
when often a human friend one has counted on proves false. But 
never a dog! There is one monument there that has this inscrip- 
tion on it in French, but I will translate it for you into English. 
It reads: ‘The more I see of men, the more I love dogs.’ Pretty 
hard on his friends, wasn’t he?” 

“I bet some one he loved played him false, don’t you?” 

“It would seem like it from that inscription,” answered Billy. 

“But hush ! I hear a bell tolling,” said Button. 

“Yes, they toll the bell when a funeral enters the gate just as they 
do in all cemeteries,” explained Duke. 

“Look, fellows!” said Stubby. “There comes a little white hearse 
just like the ones they use to take babies to the cemetery, and see 
the autos that are following! Why, it is a regular funeral, with 

144 


Billy Whiskers in France 

a wreath of flowers on the casket and everything else complete !” 

“Certainly! Everything is done just as it is in a cemetery for 
people and not one thing is left out,” replied Duke. “If you should 
walk through, you would see on some of the graves the playthings 
the dogs liked when alive.” 

“Really?” said Stubby in amazement. 

“Yes, really!” replied Duke. “I had hoped to be buried there 
myself some day, but now I expect my grave will be a shell hole 
on the field of battle.” 

“Oh, no, it won’t now since you are going to America with us.” 

“Over there your grave will probably be made under a rose bush 
or in some nice quiet orchard or back yard of the family with whom 
you live,” said Billy. 

While they had been talking, the boat drifted away past the 
cemetery and they were getting near Paris. They had just fixed 
themselves comfortably on deck to enjoy the approach to the city 
and watch the people on the banks and wharfs as the boat floated 
by when the Captain appeared and said, 

“Sorry to disturb you, fellows, but it is necessary that we shut 
you below while we are in the city. If we don’t, some one may see 
you who has read the papers offering a reward for you and they 
would come aboard and take you off.” 

“Oh, bother that old reward!” from Billy. “I don’t want to be 

H5 


Billy Whiskers in France 

shut in out of the air in that stuffy cabin. I want to be out here 
where I can stretch my legs and breathe good fresh air.” 

Just the same, Billy with the others was shut in a stuffy little cabin 
scarcely large enough to hold them. There the four of them fretted 
and grumbled and pouted, but to no purpose. 

They had been there about two hours when they felt the boat 
scrape along the side of a dock, and they found their porthole looked 
out on the wharf side of the boat. Button soon took advantage of 
his powers of climbing and sat in the porthole, from which place 
he could look out and tell the others what he saw. 

The boat had come to dock right opposite the Eiffel Tower and on 
that side of the river. By sticking his head out of the hole he 
could also see the big Hippodrome with its grassy lawn and flower 
beds and benches for tired pedestrians to rest on. 

“Gee!” exclaimed Billy, “but I would like to get out of this and 
kick my legs on that lawn and eat some of the grass, for I am awfully 
tired of the food on this boat. It is all right for people, cats and 
dogs, but rather dry for goats.” 

The next morning the Captain appeared at their door and said, 
“Now, Chums, here is a good breakfast for you, and a drink of 
water. Awfully sorry to shut you in, but I have to under the cir- 
cumstances. Ta-ta until night! We are going up into the city to do 
some shopping, but One-Eyed Dick is going to stay aboard to look 

146 


Billy Whiskers in France 

after things. Again ta-ta!” and he slammed the door and was gone. 

“Drat him!” exclaimed Billy. “I want to go walking in the 
park!” 

The four ate their 
breakfast in silence, 
then lay down to sulk 
the day away, when 
all of a sudden But- 
ton jumped up and 
climbed into the port- 
hole again. 

“Heigho, fellows! 

The way this boat lies 
now I can jump 
from this porthole on- 
to the dock. And 
if I don’t leap as far as I 
mean to do, I will only fall back 
on deck and not go into the river. I am going to try it anyway. So 
here goes!” 

With a long, flying leap he made it, landing right in front of a 
dog that chanced to be wandering along the dock just then. The 
dog made a bound for Button. But Button, contrary to the ways of 

H7 



Billy Whiskers in France 

most cats, stood his ground instead of running and before the dog 
knew what had happened to him, Button had slapped his face and 
scratched his nose, leaving a long, red mark down its length, and 
had disappeared up the path leading to the park. 

“I heard Button spit as if he were mad, and then a dog barked,” 
said Stubby. “I bet he met a dog.” 

“I know what we can do,” said Billy. “I can stand under the 
porthole and then, Duke, you and Stubby can get on my back and 
jump through the porthole. I am quite sure I am high enough 
so you can make the jump.” 

“But what good will it do even if we can reach the hole? We 
don’t want to go ashore and leave you here alone.” 

“That is just like you, Stubby, to spoil your whole day to stay 
with a friend that can't get out. You are too generous. I shan’t let 
you sacrifice yourself like that for me. You and Duke go, and then 
you can come back and tell me what you saw. If you stay, I have 
to stay just the same, and lose the fun of hearing what you fellows 
do ashore. So jump up on my back and let’s see if you can make 
the hole.” 

Stubby demurred, and so did Duke, but Billy at last prevailed on 
them to go. 

Stubby made the hole and landed on the wharf all right, but Duke 

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The first thing Billy knew, he was rolling over something soft that squealed 
like a stuck pig and that kicked like a calf. 


(Page 155) 



Billy Whiskers in France 

was large and the first jump he made he hit his head and fell back 
into the cabin. He was so fat he made a tight squeeze for the hole 
but on the second trial he made it. Then he attempted to push 
and squeeze himself through the hole. To do this he had to go head 
first, which made him fall on the deck on his nose. But it did not 
hurt much and no one saw him. He barked back to Billy that he 
was all right and was going to run up into the city and visit some 
of his old haunts. 

“I’ll steal a bunch of carrots for you from some vegetable stand,” 
he barked back. 

Billy fussed and fussed and kicked around until the cabin looked 
as if a whole drove of kicking mules had been shut in it. Then all 
of a sudden he stopped and said to himself, 

“What a fool I am, kicking and butting things around here! 
Why don’t I butt down that old door? It will be easy to do and 
then I too can go up into the city.” 

To think was to do with Billy. And crash! went the door and 
out through the wreck went Billy. When he arrived at the top of 
the hatchway he met One-Eyed Dick coming down to see what 
had caused all the noise. On seeing Billy, he tried to shut the 
hatchway to keep Billy in by sitting on it. But the next thing he 
knew the door was lifted up under him and he found himself slip- 

149 


Billy Whiskers in France 


ping off. Before he could get to his feet Billy was out and off the 
boat, and that was the last he saw of Billy for that day. 

Duke had just reached the front door of his old home when who 
should come out of the house but his old master, the one who had 
taken him to war with him and made him a Red Cross dog. 

“Duke, you old sport, where 
you been and how 
you happen to turn 
here just now when 
I was returning to 
the front and plan- 
ning to stop at 
the dog hospital to 
you?” 

His master picked him up in his arms 
- and hugged and hugged him until 
Duke thought his ribs would be crushed in. 

“I am so glad you came for now I shall not have to go out of my 
way to get you. We are on the eve of a big battle and we will both 
be needed at the front.” 

“Here is where I give up going to America,” thought Duke. 
“But it is all for the best, for since I have seen my old master again 
and found how he loves me, I think it would have been a mean trick 



Billy Whiskers in France 

to desert him while he is in danger of his life every moment. But 
I do wish I could have gone back first and said good-by to Billy, 
Stubby and Button. They are the three finest friends a dog ever 
had.” 

While Duke was thinking this, his master was carrying him to a 
big touring car and in a few seconds they were breaking the speed 
laws of the city. 



151 





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CHAPTER XIV 


WHAT THE CHUMS DID IN PARIS 

S soon as Billy found himself on shore he ran as fast as 
ever he could up into the city to try to find a grocery 
store where he could get some fresh juicy vegetables or 
fruit. He was tired to death of dry hay, straw and car- 
rots that had been fed to him on the boat, though the Captain 
thought he was giving Billy just what goats like best. 

Stubby and Button saw him disappearing down a side street 
and started to follow him. 

“How in the wide, wide world do you think he managed to get 
out of that cabin?” asked Stubby. 

“I am sure I don’t know,” answered Button, “for I am sure he 
could not possibly crawl through that porthole even if he could 
reach it. He is too big.” 

“You don’t suppose he butted down the cabin door, do you?” 
asked Stubby. 

“I should not wonder in the least if he did, and come to think of 
it, I bet that is just what he did do, for that is the only way he 
could possibly leave that cabin. Perhaps old One-Eyed Dick 

153 



Billy Whiskers in France 



opened the door to give him a drink or to get something out of the 
cabin, and Billy butted him over and escaped. However, we will 
soon find out when we overtake him.” 

“But where is he? I don’t see him anywhere,” said Stubby. 

When Stubby and Button reached the side 
street down which they had 
seen Billy disappearing, no 
Billy was in sight. But as they 
i’ stood there debating 

J' what had become of 

him, and wondering 
where they would look 
for him, they saw Billy 
run out of a fruit store 
with a big apple in his 
mouth, followed by an 
angry Frenchman madly 
jabbering and waving 
a broom over his head, 
with which he was trying to hit Billy. He was just about to bring it 
down on Billy’s back when Stubby ran between the man’s legs and 
tripped him. He got up with an oath and started to chase Stubby 
when Button ran in front of him and down he went again. He was 


154 


Billy Whiskers in France 

so busy watching Billy and Stubby that he had not time to cast his 
eyes down to see what was under his feet or where he was stepping. 
This time he fell flat on his stomach, which knocked the breath out 
of him so he could not rise again and chase them. And he sat 
there trying to get his breath until he saw them turn a corner and 
disappear, though he had the fun of seeing a man knocked over as 
he himself had been by Billy running into him as he turned the 
corner. Billy did not see the man as his head was turned to see if 
the fruit dealer was still pursuing him. And when he looked ahead, 
he was surprised to find both Stubby and Button following him. He 
still had his head turned when he ran into a fat woman going the 
same way he was, a big basket of clean clothes on her head. The first 
thing Billy knew, he was rolling over something soft that squealed 
like a stuck pig and that kicked like a calf. He lost his own balance 
and rolled over in the gutter. All this commotion caused a crowd 
to gather around them in no time, and Stubby had to bark and growl 
and nip the heels of the people to make a clearing so Billy could 
get up. Soon the police were upon them, swinging their clubs and 
crying out in French for the crowd to make way and clear the street. 

The fat woman was crying and trying to gather up her wash which 
had spilled in all directions, and she was afraid the people would 
steal some of the pieces or step on the clean snow-white bosoms of 
the shirts. 


155 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Here, don’t you put your dirty hands on that shirt!” she called 
to a boy who was going to try to help her pick up her scattered 
things. 

“Police! Police! Stop that woman! She is trying to hide a 
lady’s skirt under her shawl!” 

Stubby felt sorry for the poor laundress and he watched to see 
if any of the crowd tried to steal her things. 

Presently a bootblack picked up a nice fine white dress shirt and 
attempted to hide it under his short jacket, but the shirt was too long 
to conceal even when folded, and when it unfolded a long white tail 
stuck out. A policeman made a grab for it but the boy dodged and 
ran down the street with the shirt dangling between his legs. When 
Stubby saw this, he started in pursuit and soon overtook the boy. 
He made a snap at the flying tail, caught it in his mouth, gave a jerk 
and the shirt slipped from the boy’s hold, wound itself round his 
leg and tripped him. The policeman coming up just then caught 
the boy and gave him two or three sharp raps with his club together 
with a kick and told him to go about his business while he carried 
the much prized shirt back to the laundress. 

“Thank you! Thank you, sir, for saving that shirt! It belongs 
to the man at the head of the Police Department and I’ll tell him 
how smart you are on your beat and get you promoted for helping 

156 


Billy Whiskers in France 

a poor working woman out of her troubles,” and she wiped her eyes 
and began to count her pieces to see if they were all there. 

While the police was keeping the crowd from bothering her, the 
three Chums sneaked away and decided to return to the boat for 
they did not want to be left in Paris. Their destination was Havre 
for the present and America next. 

About six o’clock when the Captain, his wife and the sailors came 
back to the boat, they found Billy, Stubby and Button all lying out 
on deck enjoying themselves. 

“Look, will you?” exclaimed the Captain. “There are those 
animals I locked in the cabin quietly lying on deck. One-Eyed Dick 
must have let them out. I’ll fix him for disobeying orders!” 

But when he came aboard there was no One-Eyed Dick to be 
found. 

“So-ho! When we left, Dick must have decided to go too and 
while he was away these animals have broken out of the cabin.” 

While the Captain was talking, his wife had gone below to take 
a look at the cabin and find out if possible how they got out. She 
found, as you know, everything kicked and scratched to pieces and 
the door smashed to bits. She called to the Captain to come see 
what had happened. But just as he was leaving the deck he saw 
old One-Eyed Dick running toward the boat, all excitement. 

157 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“What is up, Dick? And why are you running?” 

“Come quick! Come quick! I am on the track of the three of 
them!” 

“Three what?” asked the Captain. 

“Why, the runaway animals! Don’t stop! Don’t stop to talk a 
moment or we will never catch them! I’ve been all day trying to 
get track of them and now I have, come quick or we will never lay 
eyes on them again!” 

“Are you crazy, man, wanting me to run find animals that are al- 
ready found?” 

“What do you mean?” asked Dick. 

Look over on the other side of the deck and you will see what 
I mean.” 

“Jupiter! How ever did they get here? And me following them 
from place to place only to be told they had just been seen turning 
a corner here and a corner there!” 

“But why did you let them out in the first place?” 

“Me let them out? Why, bless your life, that big goat let himself 
out after breaking up the whole of the inside of our boat and butting 
the door down as if it had been made of paper and me off the hatch- 
way as if I had been a bale of cotton. You don’t know that goat, you 
don’t!” 


158 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Come down here, I say, and see all the damage that goat did,” 
called the Captain’s wife again. 

“Well, thunder and lightning! He did leave a pretty mess, didn’t 
he?” exclaimed the Captain when he saw what Billy had done. 

“Oh, Captain, come up ! There is a man wants to see you,” called 
One-Eyed Dick down the hatchway. 

When the Captain went on deck, he saw standing talking to Dick 
a poorly dressed, shifty-eyed individual. “Well, my man, what can 
I do for you?” asked the Captain, but as he passed one of his sailors 
he said in a low voice to him, “Get those animals below as fast as 
you can, and keep them out of sight!” 

The sailor obeyed, and he got Stubby and Button down but when 
he came up for Billy he heard the man say, 

“I’ve come for me pets. And you need not try to hide them. I 
tracked ’em here not half an hour ago and I been waitin’ for youse 
to come back as I didn’t like to take ’em without tellin’ ye that them 
belongs to me.” 

“You hear? Get off this boat or I’ll have Billy butt you over the 
Eiffel Tower! What do you mean by coming here and telling me 
such a cock and bull story as that?” 

“ ’Deed them is my pets! And if you don’t give ’em up to me 
I’ll call me chum and prove it.” 


159 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Get off my boat, you stupid liar, or I’ll call the police!” 

“I’ll go get the police meself and have you arrested for holdin’ 
stolen goods!” 

“You will, will you? Well, here, on your way there you better 
take a bath in the river and wash up. They’ll be better pleased to 
see you after you have had a clean-up than the way you look now,” 
and with that the Captain walked over to the man, took him by the 
seat of his trousers and the collar of his coat and threw him over- 
board into the river. The fellow being a regular wharf rat swam 
ashore, swearing vengeance on the Captain, but he never showed up 
afterwards. 

“Well, that fellow displayed more cheek than I ever saw 
before, asking me to give up Billy, Stubby and Button on the strength 
of his saying they were his pets. But it goes to show that he had 
read the advertisements in the paper, and since others may have 
read them also, I guess we better pull up anchor and proceed on 
our way.” 

It was an hour after this when all were at supper but Dick, 
who was sitting whistling and braiding ropes, when a dapper young 
American orderly appeared at the gangplank and called out: “Hey, 
there! Have you seen a big white goat, a little yellow dog and a 
black cat around here any time to-day?” 

“No, sir; I haven’t laid me two eyes on them,” said Dick with a 

160 


Billy Whiskers in France 


straight face, though his good eye did wink once or twice at the fib. 
“Why, sir? Have you lost them?” 

“No, I haven’t, but one of them belongs to my 
regiment and the other two to two other regiments. 

And we have been looking every- 
where for them and advertising in all 
the papers. But every time 
we hear that they 
have been seen in a 
certain locality and go 
to get them, they are 
gone. And I just 
heard this afternoon 
that three animals an- 
swering to their de- 
scrip tion had 
been seen coming __ 
this way.” ^ 

“Well, I have been here 
nearly all day, and I haven’t 
laid me two eyes on any goat, cat or dog.” 

No, to be sure he had not laid his two eyes on them for he had but 
one eye with which to see. 

161 



Billy Whiskers in France 

The young orderly went off, inquiring on every boat that lay along 
the dock if they had seen a goat, dog or cat anywhere around there 
that day. 

Captain! Captain!” called Dick down the hatchway. “We 
have had another close call. A young orderly from the very regi- 
ment Billy belongs to was here inquiring for him and the other 
two.” 

“And what did you tell him?” 

“Just said, ‘No, I have not laid me two eyes on them.’” 

“Haw, haw, haw!” laughed the Captain. “You did well to turn 
him off in that way, even if it was half a lie. But it shows we 
must not tarry another minute here or the next thing we know they 
will be sending the police for them. Here, call the other sailors 
and let us heave to and be off.” 

And presently Billy said to Button, “We are moving! Thank 
goodness we have started on our homeward journey once more! 

Nothing of interest happened on the rest of the trip to Havre 
except when a little bird flew on deck with a message for Billy 
from Duke. 

“Why, I did not even know he was gone!” exclaimed Billy. “I 
took it for granted he had returned to the boat when I was away, 
and was now asleep somewhere on it. What did you say he said, 
and where was he when he told you?” 

162 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“He was in a big touring car, just leaving the outskirts of Paris. 
He was with his old master who is a celebrated surgeon at the front 
and they were both going back to his hospital. Duke told me to 
tell you that he was very sorry to leave you all without a chance to 
thank you for being so good to him and to say good-by. When he 
left the boat he had only intended to run up in the city and take a 
look at his old home, but when he got there who should he see com- 
ing out of the house but his old master, who was just going to get 
him at the dogs’ hospital, where he thought Duke had been all this 
time. And Duke said to tell you that when he saw his old master 
again, all his love for him came back and he could not bear to leave 
him to run away to America.” 

“Well, if that doesn’t beat all!” exclaimed Button. 

“I think it is just as well he left us,” said Stubby, “for I am afraid 
he would not understand our free and easy life in America after 
living all his life with formal people.” 

“Guess you are right,” agreed Stubby and Billy. 


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CHAPTER XV 


BLOWN UP BY A SUBMARINE 

OU will be surprised to learn that the Chums had no 
trouble whatever in sneaking off the canal boat and se- 
creting themselves on a packet bound for Queenstown 
that night. 

Before boarding the boat Billy said, “This boat is not sailing for 
America, but we must take any boat we can get on to escape from 
France where we are so well known. If we don’t, we will be cap- 
tured and sent back into the army in no time. When we get to 
Queenstown, we can ship on another bound for the United States of 
America, for many boats stop there before crossing the ocean to 
pick up the last mail from England.” 

The boat they were on left the dock at about half past nine, with 
all lights out, as was necessary to avoid attracting the attention of 
the submarines that infested those waters. For a wonder the Chan- 
nel was smooth as glass and as the night was clear, with a big moon 
shining, anything afloat on the water could be seen for miles. 

“Keep your weather eye peeled for submarine periscopes!” said 



Billy Whiskers in France 

Billy to Stubby and Button as they lay on the forward deck, looking 
out over the water. 

It was after midnight and every one was in bed but the officers of 
the ship and the sailors on the lookout for submarines when Billy’s 
sharp eyes saw something that looked like a log of wood standing 
straight up in the water. Before he could call out, “A periscope!” 
a black object was seen skipping over the surface of the water and 



the next thing he knew he was flying up in the air amid a spray of 
water. When he came down he struck the water about a hundred 
feet from where he went up and he felt himself going down, down, 
down toward the bottom of the ocean. But it was too deep for him 
to strike bottom here, so after going down, down, down, he began 
to come up, up, up, and when he got to the surface and shook the 
water out of his eyes, he looked around to see if he could discover 

1 66 


Billy Whiskers in France 

Stubby or Button. And oh, joy! there they both were swimming 
towards him unhurt. 

Luckily for them, not one of them had been injured in the least. 
Just then a big piece of wreckage that would act as a raft floated 
near them and they all crawled upon it, and were just in time to see 
what was left of the packet sink beneath the waves. They also saw 
that two lifeboats were afloat toward which many black heads could 
be seen swimming. Soon the swimmers reached the boats and 
climbed into them, and Billy saw they were the Captain and officers 
of the ship along with some of the sailors and passengers. As soon 
as they were in the lifeboats, they began picking up the people they 
saw in the water, and as there were but few passengers aboard all 
were saved. For a wonder the U-boat did not send another torpedo 
after them which in all probability they would have done had they 
not been frightened away by a guard boat coming to the rescue. 
After it had chased the submarine away, it came back and picked 
up all the passengers of the lifeboats and steamed away toward 
Ireland with them as they happened to be very near Queenstown. 

Now none of the people had seen or heard the Chums on their 
raft though Billy baaed, Stubby barked and Button mewed. 

“Well, there are two or three things to be thankful for,” said Billy. 
“First of all, we are alive and unhurt. The next is that the tide 
is carrying us inshore instead of out to sea, and the wind is blowing 

167 


Billy Whiskers in France 

that way too. But most important of all is the fact that we are not 
far from land, and if the tide doesn’t turn and carry us out to sea, 
we should reach land at the rate we are floating now in about two 
hours. If we see the tide is turning, we can jump off the raft and 
swim for shore.” 

“You would see some good in every situation, even if your home 
was burning,” declared Button. 

“Well, wouldn’t you?” asked Billy. 

“No. I nearly always feel despondent when in bad luck until I 
get mad and think what is the use. Then I make the best of what- 
ever comes, while patient little Stubby here says nothing but just 
saws wood, as the saying is.” 

Soon after daylight the raft touched the shore, and the Chums 
lost no time in leaving it, I can tell you. In the distance up the 
shore they saw a number of fishermen’s cottages. Stubby and Button 
proposed to walk up to them and see if they could not get something 
to eat, while Billy waited for them near by and made his breakfast 
of shamrock, for they were on Irish soil, the native heath of the 
shamrock. 

The fishermen received them kindly, and gave them plenty to 
eat and drink. Then a quarrel arose as to who should own the dog 
and cat that had come to them so strangely. At last it was proposed 

1 68 


Billy Whiskers in France 

to auction them off. The bidding was in kegs of fish instead of in 
money, however. 

While the excitement of the bidding was going on, Stubby and 
Button thought it a good time to steal away and join Billy. The 
last Stubby heard were these words, “I’ll give three kegs of fresh 
fish for the little dog!” 

When they got back to Billy, they hurriedly told him what was 
up and explained that the men Billy saw waving their arms and 
shouting were only bidding in the auction and not preparing to 
fight each other. 

“But we better scoot out of here before they miss us or we will 
be captured and tied up.” And for the next half hour the Chums 
ran straight inland, only stopping long enough to get their breath, 
then running on some more. They were not followed, however, and 
at last they slowed down beside the roadside to listen to the passersby, 
to try to find out what part of Ireland they were in and how far it 
was to the nearest seaport from which large vessels sailed. Imagine 
their joy when they found they were only four miles from Queens- 
town and on the direct road that led there! 

It was no trick at all to reach that city and when they arrived 
they went straight to the wharf to look for a boat to carry them 
still nearer America. 


169 


Billy Whiskers in France 

Look! Billy, look!’ exclaimed Stubby. “There is a big cam- 
ouflaged troop ship lying at the dock. They can’t fool me with their 
camouflaged ships ; I have seen too many of them.” 

For. the next few minutes you could not see the Chums for dust 
as they ran toward the ship. Sure enough, it was just as Stubby said. 
It was an empty troop ship returning to the United States of America 
for more soldiers, and had only stopped here for coal and provisions. 
There not being any troops aboard, it was easy for the Chums to 
steal on board and hide themselves until the ship was away out to 
sea before showing themselves. 

“I bet you,” said Stubby, “that that old submarine that blew us 
up was waiting for this troop ship in the hopes of blowing it up 
and while waiting for it to put to sea, they just blew up the packet 
we were on to keep their hands in.” 

“I shouldn’t wonder in the least,” replied Stubby, “if that was 
just what they were up to. And perhaps we will be torpedoed 
again.” 

“Well, I will take my chance, won’t you, fellows?” said Billy, 
“for I am anxious to set foot on American soil once more, and I want 
it to be the U. S. part of it, not South America or Mexico.” 

“Listen!” commanded Button. “I hear the propeller beginning 
to move.” This so excited Button that he jumped up and ran up 
and down the big coal pile beside which he had been hiding. This 

170 


Billy Whiskers in France 

started the coal to rolling so that it nearly buried Stubby and Billy 
under it, and filled their eyes with coal dust. 

“You stupid, stop that!” barked Stubby. “Do you want to bury 
us alive, or have some one come to see why the coal started rolling?” 

“No, of course not, but I am so glad to be on the last lap of our 
journey home that I had to express myself in action or blow up.” 

“I should think you had had enough blow-ups for one while. And 
you are likely to have another before we reach New York harbor, 
for which port I hear this ship is bound,” said Billy. 

“New York, did you say?” asked Stubby. “Oh, I am so glad we 
are sailing for New York instead of for Philadelphia, Baltimore or 
some other port. I always like to return to America by way of New 
York and have the Goddess of Liberty welcome me home with ex- 
tended arms.” 

The trip across the Atlantic was a fast and pleasant one and the 
Chums made friends of all on board, just as they always did 
wherever they were. 

They waited until the second day at sea before they showed them- 
selves, and when they came slowly walking up on deck and stood 
before the Captain as much as to say, “Here we are! You may do 
with us what you will,” he nearly fell over with surprise and then 
took pity on them, for they were a sorry, hungry looking trio after 
having been shut in the coal bunker for a day and a night. He 

171 


Billy Whiskers in France 

ordered them scrubbed and fed, and when he saw them again he 
did not recognize them at once, for he thought they were all three 
black. Now the dust was washed off them, he found only one was 
black, while one was yellow and the other white. 

As he stood looking at them, the sailor who had been ordered to 
wash them came up and after saluting the Captain said, 

“Captain, will you kindly read what is on the medals around their 
necks? They each have one, but they do not show unless you look 
for them as they are concealed by their hair. When we went to 
work on them we found each wore a medal around his neck.” 

While the Captain was reading the medal Billy wore, he had a 
good look at the Captain and was surprised that he had not noticed 
before that this Captain was the very same one with whom he had 
crossed when he sailed for France with his regiment. At the same 
time the Captain recognized Billy. 

“Well, well, Billy, old boy, how are you? But no need to ask, 
for you are looking fine. And the only thing different I see about 
you is that you have lost the end of your tail. Blown off by a bomb, 
I bet! But where did you pick up your two friends? Wait; I 
will read what their medals say and perhaps that will throw some 
light on who they are. Lieutenant, come here!” called the Captain 
to a second lieutenant who was passing. “Just read these medals 
and see whom we have with us.” 


172 


Billy Whiskers in France 

“Holy Moses!” exclaimed the lieutenant. “This is a find! 
Didn’t you know that there is a reward of one thousand dollars of- 
fered for each of these animals by the regiments they belong to?” 

“Jumping ginger! You don’t mean it?” exclaimed the Captain. 
“They must have gotten homesick and run away.” 

“You have said it!” baaed Billy, “and there is no place like home 
when that home is in the United States of America.” 



THE END 


173 


ZIP 

The Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier 

BY FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY 

The Well-Known Author of 

THE BILLY WHISKERS SERIES 

Zip is the adventure-loving, frolicsome pet of the 
popular doctor of a small village. He goes 
wherever his master goes — and ventures to un- 
dertake much at which the physician would 
shake his head in fear. In fact, Zip dares any- 
thing and anybody. He is known and beloved 
by all the village folk, who are kept on the qui 
vive wondering what will be Zip’s next outbreak. 

His life is far from one of peace. The unex- 
pected is continually happening — every page 
bristles with the unusual adventures of this ac- 
tive little, dear little, frisky little Zip. He will 
be found to be a splendid story-book playfellow 
by every boy and girl. 

Quarto, bound in boards, with cover, jacket and four full- 
page illustrations in colors— $.60 postpaid. 

The Saalfield Publishing Company 

AKRON, OHIO 



Billy Wbiskers Series 


(Trade Mark.) 



By Frances Trego Montgomery 


BILLY WHISKERS 

Bill}’’ Whiskers is a mischievous creature, full of wickedness and folly, whose antics have 
furnished fun for a million readers. The child enjoys every moment after he is introduced to the 
irresistible fellow. 

BILLY WHISKERS’ KIDS 

‘‘Recounting the . adventures of Day and Night, twin kids of the nursery-famous Billy 
Whiskers. This is a stirring tale of travel and trouble and mischief that will delight the little 
world .”— Galveston News . 

BILLY WHISKERS, JR. 

“ Night, now grown, is known as Billy Whiskers, Jr. and as he has all the personal traits 
which made his father’s career one round of surprising activity and astonishing adventure, the 
son will be quite as well beloved as his sire .” — Chicago Record Herald . 

BILLY WHISKERS’ TRAVELS 

In which the ever active Billy tours Europe, each city in turn furnishing ample opportunity 
for fun for sight-seeing Billy. 

BILLY WHISKERS AT THE CIRCUS 

“ Everything goes well enough with Billy until a circus comes to wwn, and then just like 
-he small boy, he made up his mind to go, come what might and cost what it would. He made 
preparations for a week and went, there to meet with all manner of adventures, becoming so 
infatuated with the life that he joined it .” — Des Moines Capital 

BILLY WHISKERS AT THE FAIR 

In going to the Fair, Billy Whiskers didn’t leave a single prank at home. He had more fun 
to the minute than most others have to the hour. What he didn’t do and didn’t see is not worth 
relating. 

Each volume bound in boards, cover and jacket in colors, six full-page 
illustrations in colors, with scores of text drawings, quarto, post- 
paid, per volume $1.25 


THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.. AKRON. OHIO 


r*lesss 


as Ully 



(Trade Mark.) 




By Frances Trego Montgomery 


BILLY WHISKERS’ FRIENDS 

This story of how Billy Whiskers and his wife Nannie journey west in search of their son. 
Billy Whiskers, Jr., teems with exciting incident and ludicrous situation. 

BILLY WHISKERS, JR. AND HIS CHUMS 

The Chums are a black cat and a yellow dog, and together this trio make a trip from San 
Francisco immediately after the g-reat earthquake back to Billy's former home in the east 

BILLY WHISKERS’ GRANDCHILDREN 

Being a laughable record of the adventures that come to Punch and Judy, Billy’s grand- 
children. 

BILLY WHISKERS’ VACATION 

Promising his faithful wife to be back within a year and a day, active Billy starts on 
another ramble, to meet as many exciting adventures as in his younger days. 

BILLY WHISKERS KIDNAPED 

Because Billy is a valuable goat, two men determine to kidnap him, and after many attempts 
they succeed. The Chums unearth the plot, and take up the trail— but what happens it is the 
right of the author to tell in her own charming way. 

BILLY WHISKERS’ TWINS 

Billy’s twin children go to a famous summer resort, now being owned by children who 
sojourn there each year. Father Billy and the Chums follow, and the five make merry during 
the season, enjoying it fully as much as any of the cottagers. 

BILLY WHISKERS IN AN AEROPLANE 

Billy keeps step with the progress of the world, and here we find him making a cross-counts 
flight in an aeroplane race, with the Chums in rival machines. 

Each volume in boards, cover and jacket in colors, six full-page illustra- 
tions in colors, with scores of text drawings, quarto, postpaid, per 
volume $1.25 


THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.. AKRON. OHIO 



fRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY’S BOOKS 


The 

■MB Electric 

Wonderful 

IK 

Elephant 

*' A new and fascinating sort of 

HI | y 

'* A book in which youth will take 

fairy story .” — Salt La^e Tribune. 

keen pleasure .” — The Bookseller. 


Among the tales of travel for boys and girls there are few which record such strange 
adventures as befell the owners of the wonderful Electric Elephant. 

« • , a ^ ortvina te chance, Harold Fredericks comes into possession of a wonderful me- 

chanical elephant, so ingeniously contrived that it will pass for a real animal, even under closest 
inspection. The interior is. fitted up luxuriously, affording the finest accommodations for Harold 
and the traveling companion whom he secures by another lucky chance. The young folks have 
a journey quite unlike any on record, meeting adventures both on land and sea. 

The boy or girl who wants something new in the story line will surely find it in this 
chronicle. 

Elaborately illustrated with 50 full-page halftones, bound in cloth, 12mo, 

postpaid $1.50 


ON A 
LARK 

" The colored illustrations are 
a feature of delight.” — Grand 
fwpids Herald. 



TO THE 
PLANETS 

“ This sprightly author holds the 
record for inventiveness.” — Phila- 
delphia Item. 


n ^ome hme ago a book appeared which has been a delight to thousands of boys and girls. 
* u i e Wonderful Electric Elephant.” Frances Trego Montgomery has published a sequei 

to that book and calls it On a Lark to the Planets.” The contents of this new volume makes a 
feast for the young mind, telling of a journey Harold and lone took to the planets. 

. As a gift oook to the children, nothing could be more desirable. It is an assurance of 
happiness for any young person to be the possessor of this charming story.” — Birmingham Ledger. 

Beautifully illustrated in colors, bound substantially in cloth, 12mo, post- 

P aid $1.50 


THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.. AKRON. OHIO 


FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY’S BOOKS 



The Buffalo Courier 
says: 

“Frances Trego Mont- 
gomery has the happy 
faculty of knowing what 
the small boy and his sis- 
ter like in the way of 
fiction.” 


A CHRISTMAS WITH SANTA CLAUS 

“ A CHRISTMAS WITH SANTA CLAUS ” is the title of an 
ideal Christmas book by Frances Trego Montgomery, illustrated in 
colors in a most bewitching way. 

The story recites the adventures of Jack and Gladys, whom 
Santa picks up and whisks away to the Northland. There they make 
the acquaintance of Mrs. Santa, and help fill the Saint’s chimney 
bags. When all is ready and the sleigh is packed, they accompany 
old Santa on his annual trip. 

“ If you doubt the joys of a ‘ Christmas with Santa Claus,’ read 
of the pleasures that awaited two little waifs the big-hearted Christian 
saint gathered into his home. Mrs. Montgomery introduces you to 
his motherly wife. She is as good as another grandmother. Try her ! ” 
— New York World. 


SANTA CLAUS’ TWIN BROTHER 

Can anyone make a better play-fellow than Santa himself? 
That is the question every child ponders after reading “A Christ- 
mas with Santa Claus.” And likely they would ask it in vain if Mrs. 
Montgomery had not written " Santa Claus’ Twin Brother.” This 
lively story convinces them that there is one other who enters into 
their moods just as thoroughly as the merry old fellow with ruddy 
face and snowy beard, and why should he not, for he is Kris Kringle, 
twin brother of Santa. 

Four little children are fortunate enough to have a frolic with 
these two merry fellows, and their laughter rings through every page 
of the captivating story. 



Boston Ideas says: 

“Mrs. Montgomery’s 
ideas are touched with 
the sparkle of real 
genius. It’s a delight to 
travel in her company.” 


Each volume illustrated in colors, with colored cover and jacket, quarto, 
bound in boards postpaid, per vol ume 


$1.00 


THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.. AKRON. OHIO 

















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MONTGOMERY 




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